Chen, the most senior Chinese official to visit the self-ruled island in 60 years, finally left the Regent Hotel in the early hours after police struggled to keep back more than 2,000 protesters venting their anger at his visit.

A staff member at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, where Chen is staying, confirmed the envoy returned at about 2:30am (1830 GMT Wednesday).

Earlier, at least one policeman was injured in scuffles with the protesters, said the TVBS news channel.

Television footage also showed angry demonstrators surrounding a Chinese television reporter late Wednesday in an attempt to prevent her from leaving the hotel before the police intervened.

Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang (KMT), which hosted the banquet for Chen, blamed the pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

"We condemn the DPP for mobilising the protesters... who were engaged in violent acts that have seriously damaged Taiwan's international image," the party said in a statement.

DPP chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen appeared at the scene late Wednesday and chanted anti-China slogans with the protesters.

Officials say more than 7,000 police have been deployed to ensure Chen's safety, after his deputy Zhang Mingqing was jostled and knocked to the ground by anti-China protesters during a visit to Taiwan last month.

Chen, head of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, on Tuesday signed historic economic deals with Chiang Pin-kung, his local counterpart.

Their meeting, the second between the two envoys and the first in Taiwan, has sparked widespread and vocal protests that Taipei is making too many concessions to its once sworn enemy.

Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war but Beijing still regards the island as part of its territory, to be retaken by force if necessary.

earlier related report
Taiwan, China plan to build on historic agreements: officials
Taiwan and China plan to build on historical pacts that narrow the distance between the former enemies with comprehensive economic, trade and financial cooperation, the two sides said Wednesday.

Officials who attended closed-door seminars on cross-Strait economic cooperation discussed banking, tax and currency issues they hope will build on deals concluded Tuesday on travel, trade and transport links.

The two sides, which have often come close to war in the past 60 years, signed four deals that will see them cooperate in air travel, post and cargo shipping -- areas that stand to bring huge profits to Taiwanese companies.

Delegates said they wanted to forge agreements on financial supervision, investment protection, trade disputes and protection of intellectual property rights ahead of their next round of meetings in China early next year.

"We hope the two sides can start preparations for the follow-up negotiations as soon as possible," said Taiwan's chief negotiator Chiang Pin-kung.

Analysts and business leaders consider this week's agreements a critical step toward integrating Taiwan's economy with that of its huge neighbour.

This is despite sovereignty disputes that have seen Beijing and Taipei claim to be the one true China since they split in 1949 at the end of a civil war.

Ahead of the seminars, at which officials planned to hammer out details of Tuesday's agreements, Chiang said implementation would not be without problems.

But he said the so-called "three links" were a foundation on which to build a thriving cross-Strait relationship.

Taiwanese businesses have channelled about 150 billion US dollars into China since Taipei eased an investment ban in the early 1990s.

Bilateral trade rose 16.1 percent in 2007 to a record 102.3 billion US dollars. China is Taiwan's biggest trading partner, last year accounting for 21.9 percent of the island's total external trade.

Taiwanese delegates to the seminars said local investors in China had long complained about restrictions on Taiwan companies getting bank loans in the mainland.

Sources who did not want to be named said the Taipei side had recommended that China allow Taiwanese banks to set up branches in order to ease financing bottlenecks.

Chinese representatives wanted their banks to be able to open liaison offices on here, they added.

China's delegation had expressed hopes for a currency clearance mechanism to be established, although the two sides already offer limited conversion between the Taiwan dollar and the renminbi.

Delegates wanted Taiwan, a leading information technology supplier, and China to set up cross-strait IT product standards. These are now largely in the hands of American, European and Japanese giants of the IT industry.

"Since the mainland market is so huge, if the two sides can work hand-in-hand to formulate their own industrial standards, they would benefit as they would no longer need to pay the costly standards verification fees," Kao Koong-lian, Chiang's deputy, quoted an unnamed Chinese delegate as saying.

Delegates of both sides were optimistic about being able to work together to help tackle the current global economic troubles, as both have significant foreign exchange reserves -- China with 1.9 trillion US dollars, and Taiwan with 278.15 billion US dollars.

"Given the relatively healthy economic and financial structure of Taiwan and mainland China, especially the mainland's huge market potential, the two sides should be able to survive the financial challenges," China's chief negotiator Chen Yunlin told reporters.

While talk of economic cooperation seemed to generate optimism among delegates from both sides, politics injected a sour note.

A Taiwanese suggestion that the island join the currency swap regime of ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), plus China, Japan and South Korea was unilaterally dismissed by the Chinese side.

Beijing -- which took Taipei's UN seat in 1971 ahead of Washington switching diplomatic recognition in 1979 -- does not permit the island to join international organisations.

Related Links
Taiwan News at SinoDaily.com

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