A top Taiwanese official said Sunday he talked about the island's role in the international community with China's President Hu Jintao, in a side-meeting at a Pacific Rim summit in Japan.

"We talked about a range of things together, and one of the issues was Taiwan's participation in the international community," Lien Chan, a former Taiwanese vice president, told reporters.

Lien, who was representing President Ma Ying-jeou at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Japan's port city of Yokohama, met Hu on Saturday.

Taiwan state media said the envoy did not raise the sensitive issue of missiles — China has more than 1,600 missiles aimed at Taiwan — nor had he invited Hu to visit Taipei.

Lien did however demand that "Taiwan not be left out of international affairs," according to Taipei-based United Daily News.

Hu did not make guarantees to Lien on the issue, but said "negotiations should be sought regarding Taiwan's participation in international affairs, including NGOs… so that disputes can be avoided," the report said.

China and Taiwan split in 1949 after a civil war, but Beijing still considers the self-ruled island as part of its territory. As such, Taiwan has been banned from various international organisations. Ma is barred from attending the APEC summit.

But Taiwanese officials believe a landmark economic pact signed with China in June effectively means Beijing has given the nod to the island going ahead with similar agreements with other countries.

Taiwan promptly announced in August that it would hold talks with Singapore on establishing an economic cooperation agreement, and Lien said Sunday it was looking to secure more such deals.

"We would like to continue our efforts in concluding further FTAs (free trade agreements) with our major trading partners," he said.

He added that Taiwan would like to host an APEC summit in the future — a move that would cause a diplomatic headache as Chinese heads of state have not visited the island since communist China was established in 1949.

"Up to now, we have not been asked, but if asked, we would be more than delighted to host the meeting."

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