Chiang Ping-kung, chairman of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), and Chen Yunlin, president of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), are scheduled to meet in the central Taiwan city in the second half of next month for their fourth round of talks to sign agreements on fishing crew cooperation, agricultural quarantine inspection, standards, inspection and certification for industrial products, and the avoidance of double taxation.

In an interview with CNA, Chiang said Chinese negotiators on the sidelines of the talks will also visit areas in the vicinity of Taichung and added that the National Policy Agency (NPA) under his ministry has formed a task force that will mobilize policemen from the host city and the neighboring counties of Taichung, Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin and even Chiayi, to ensure the safety of the negotiators during their tours.

During the second round of SEF-ARATS talks that took place in Taipei in November last year, Chen and the other Chinese negotiators were besieged by protesters at a Taipei hotel after attending a dinner party hosted by Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan.

The delegation were unable to leave the hotel, despite a police escort, until after midnight.

"A situation like this will not be allowed to happen again, " Chang said, adding that the government will take every precaution.

His remarks came in the wake of protests, mostly by the pro-Taiwan independence camp, members of which vented their anger at Taichung's hosting of the SEF-ARATS talks a day earlier when Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan visited Tachung Mayor Jason Hu to make pre-talks arrangements.

They have also threatened to stage protests in the city coinciding with the talks.

He called on the public to get "accustomed" to Taiwan's hosting of negotiations with China, as these kinds of talks will be held in Taiwan even more frequently in future.

Under a tacit a understanding, the cross-strait talks take place alternately in Taiwan and China.

The SEF and ARATS are semi-official bodies authorized by Taipei and Beijing, respectively, to deal with cross-strait exchanges in the absence of diplomatic relations.

(By Garfie Li and Bear Lee)