THE Chinese mainland would mainly listen to opinions from Taiwan on the establishment of an economic cooperation framework when their negotiators met next week, the mainland's chief negotiator said yesterday, ruling out the possibility of signing an agreement during the meeting.

Chen Yunlin, president of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), told reporters he would exchange opinions with his Taiwan counterpart Chiang Pin-kung on the principles of negotiation on the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement when they meet next Tuesday in Taichung, Taiwan.

The meeting between Chen and Chiang, chairman of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), will be the fourth round of talks between the two groups since they resumed negotiations in June last year after a 10-year suspension.

Negotiation on signing the agreement was not on the meeting's agenda, Chen said, adding talks on such a deal were purely an economic issue and would not "touch upon any politically sensitive issues."

"We respect the rights to the expression of opinions of those in Taiwan who might oppose the talks between the ARATS and SEF, but we hope they could express their thoughts in a peaceful and rational way, and should not bring inconvenience to the life and work of Taichung residents," he said.

The agenda includes labor cooperation in the fishing industry, cooperation in inspection and quarantine of agricultural products, and taxation cooperation.

Chen said one of his biggest wishes was to meet survivors of Typhoon Morakot in August.

He said the mainland appreciated the SEF's move of sending a delegation to the mainland to visit survivors of last May's earthquake in Sichuan Province.

Chen also said the mainland was ready to promote communication on investment in Taiwan. He hoped Taiwan could gradually expand mainland investment's destinations and create a fairer and more convenient business and living environment for mainland investors.