Although Huang had refused to confirm the visit prior to his departure from Taipei earlier that day, he was seen arriving in Beijing aboard an Air China flight from Hong Kong The main purpose of the visit will be to exchange ECFA early-harvest lists with officials of China's Ministry of Commerce, according to informed sources.

Huang will later head to Singapore Nov. 7 to attend a senior officials meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum scheduled for Nov. 8-9, the sources said.

Asked about Huang's Beijing visit, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang said he was "not prepared to talk about it today or tomorrow" because "this is not the appropriate time." Shih, who will also travel to Singapore to attend an APEC ministerial meeting slated for Nov. 11-12, is expected to exchange views on the ECFA with Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming on the sidelines of the APEC meeting, which it is hoped will pave the way for the signing of the agreement next spring, according to the sources.

Taiwan has proposed that the agreement be signed during a fifth round of talks between Taipei-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung and Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) President Chen Yunlin, which will take place in the first half of 2010.

The fourth round of talks between the two top negotiators are scheduled to take place in December in Taichung, when they will sign four agreements regarding fishing crew cooperation, agricultural quarantine inspection, industrial product standards, inspection and certification, and the avoidance of double taxation.

To set the stage for the fourth round of talks, ARATS Vice President Zheng Lizhong held a preparatory meeting with his SEF counterpart, Kao Koong-lian, in Yilan, northeastern Taiwan, the previous day.

Zheng left Taiwan Wednesday to return to China.

(By Huang Chi-kuan, Lin Shu-yuan and Y.F. Low)