Huang Chih-peng, the chief of the Bureau of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, was supposed to have arrived in the Chinese capital yesterday, but his trip had been postponed.

China's Ministry of Commerce said the only reason for the change was related to the itinerary, reports said. The MOEA said scheduling a new time and place was up to Tang Wei, the director of the Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Department at the Chinese ministry.

Huang was planning to travel to Beijing for the fourth round in the unofficial talks between both sides about the ECFA, the Taiwan government's contested plan for liberalized economic and trade relations with China.

The trade official was expected to present a list of products subject to tariff cuts before the ECFA itself was signed. The financial sector, textile, car parts, the petrochemical sector, machinery and flat panel makers were all expected to be among the main beneficiaries of Huang's visit, reports said.

President Ma Ying-jeou has promoted the need for an ECFA for Taiwan to avoid becoming an outsider as China, South Korea, Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations start abolishing tariffs next year.

The opposition has demanded a referendum on the issue because it says the treaty will damage Taiwan's sovereignty as well as harm local small and medium enterprises. The companies will be forced out of business by a flood of cheap products from their Chinese competitors, leading to rapidly growing unemployment in traditional sectors of the economy, the critics say.

The Ma administration has also repeatedly come under fire for failing to explain fully what ECFA would entail and for making contradictory statements about its potentially negative consequences.