Lien was to deliver a speech at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Sunday after flying to Singapore Saturday night, the KMT said.

"Chairman Lien is there to deliver a speech... and of course, he will meet some 'old friends,'" KMT spokeswoman Cheng Li-wen told AFP, without elaborating.

The United Daily News said Lien had dinner with Lee after his arrival in Singapore, and that the two were due to discuss the delicate Taipei-Beijing relationship.

Lien was to return to Taipei Sunday night, Cheng said.

The whirlwind visit comes shortly before Lien is expected, as early as this month, to visit Beijing in an effort to mend ties with China. The mainland last month extended an invitation to Lien while a Kuomintang delegation made its first bridge-building trip to China in more than 55 years.

The Kuomintang fled to Taiwan after losing the civil war to Communist troops on the mainland and in 1949 set up their rival government in Taipei.

Singapore and China have enjoyed strong bilateral relations but ties hit a rough patch last year after then-deputy prime minister Lee Hsien Loong visited Taiwan shortly before being sworn in as Singapore's prime minister.

Ties improved after Lee reiterated his country's "One China" policy and warned Taipei against provoking China by pushing for independence.

Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew has previously served as a go-between Taipei and Beijing.

Local newspapers reported Saturday that Lien would sign an agreement with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing to mark a formal end to hostilities between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party.

The Kuomintang denied the report. Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party has repeatedly warned the Kuomintang against signing any deal with Beijing without government authorization.

Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party has accused the Kuomintang of being a "communist propaganda tool" over its visit to China after Beijing passed an anti-secession law, authorizing the use of "non-peaceful means" if the island moves toward independence.

Tensions have been rising between the two sides since the re-election of pro-independence Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian last year. Beijing renewed its longstanding vow to take the island by force should it declare formal independence.

China regards Taiwan as part of its territory waiting to be reunified.

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