TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan opposition leaders on Monday planned a fresh wave of street protests to coincide with a visit next week by China's top negotiator as 7,000 police officers prepared to stand guard.
China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own and has threatened to use force, if necessary, to bring the island under its rule. But the two sides have established new trade and transit links since Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou took office in May.
Chen Yunlin, Beijing's top negotiator on Taiwan affairs, is expected to visit the island for his first time from November 3-7 to discuss new direct flights and food safety.
Last week, demonstrators in the southern Taiwan city of Tainan pushed to the ground a visiting Chinese official who had traveled there for an academic conference, outraging Beijing.
Demonstrators organized by Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which wants Taiwan to seek formal independence from China and opposes Ma's friendly approach toward Beijing, are planning street action to protest against Chen's visit.
"They can't sign any kind of political agreement," party spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang said. "If they sign any economic agreements, they must not add any political conditions."
About 7,000 police officers will be ready to handle any upsets, Taiwan National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chiun told reporters on Monday.
"Of course they're to protect Chen Yunlin and to ensure public safety," police agency news official Wang Chi-chung said.
About half a million demonstrators flooded Taipei on Saturday, asking Ma to resign and China to back off.
China has claimed Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's Communists won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's KMT fled to the island.