"This is a pure trade issue," Taiwan foreign ministry spokeswoman Chang Siao-yue said when asked to comment on Chinese warnings of trouble if Singapore signed a free-trade agreement with Taiwan.

"Trade issues should be left to trade," she said. "Using political reasons to oppose free-trade agreements is totally meaningless."

On Saturday, China's trade minister warned his Singapore counterpart of trouble if the Southeast Asian city-state struck a free-trade agreement with Taiwan, according to a conversation overheard by Reuters.

The two ministers were speaking in Brunei after a news conference on closer economic ties between the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations, China, Japan and South Korea.

Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province and has threatened to attack the democratic island of 23 million people if it declares independence or drags its feet on unification talks.

Taiwan's China Times newspaper said on Sunday Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew would arrive in Taipei on Tuesday for a four-day visit to discuss the signing of a free-trade agreement.

Chang, the spokeswoman, confirmed Lee would visit, but declined to discuss his schedule.

Singapore's trade office in Taipei declined to comment.

Last year, Singapore was Taiwan's sixth-largest trading partner and probably China's seventh-largest.

Lee, who visited Beijing this month, has close ties with both Taiwan and China, and visits both frequently. He hosted landmark talks between Taipei and Beijing in Singapore in 1993.

Wary of its growing economic dependence on China, Taiwan has revived a "go south" campaign to persuade its businesses to invest in Southeast Asia.

Taiwan has said it also wants to reach free-trade agreements with the United States, Japan, New Zealand and Panama.

Bilateral and multilateral free-trade agreements are proliferating and Taiwan needs its own deals, analysts say.

"If Taiwan doesn't sign up partners then it will become a less attractive investment destination, in the long run", said Tu Chaw-hsia, a trade specialist with the Chung-hua Institute of Economic Research in Taipei.

Taiwan and China have been diplomatic and military rivals since a civil war ended in 1949, but that has not stopped Taiwan investors from pouring up to US$100 billion into the mainland since the late 1980s.

The China Times newspaper said Lee would also discuss Taiwan's possible participation in ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

China says Taiwan is not entitled to diplomatic recognition and fiercely resists attempts by other countries to establish formal ties with the island.

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