Taipei - Taiwan welcomed possible plans for a visit by the man elected Tuesday as head of the state-controlled agency dealing with the island.

Taiwan is also considering a number of measures to ease relations between Taiwan and its mighty neigbour across the Taiwan Strait, officials said.

These include allowing China's Xinhua news agency and People's Daily to base reporters in Taiwan, permit Chinese tourists to use credit cards and relaxing the ban on visits by senior officials to China.

The liberalised moves came after China-friendly Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) returned to power as a result of the pro- independence Democratic Progressive Party government being voted out of office, following eight years of sour relations with China.

Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of government-funded Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), said he sent a congratulatory message to China's top negotiator with Taiwan, Chen Yun-lin, Tuesday, inviting him to the island for talks.

On Tuesday Chen was elected as head of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), set up in 1991 to deal with Taiwan in the absence of formal ties.

Chiang said he will first lead a delegation to hold talks with Chen in Beijing from June 11-14. ARATS has invited Chiang to discuss Taiwan's plans to launch weekend charter flights to China and open the island to sightseeing trips for Chinese tourists from July.

Taiwan Premier Liu Chao-shiuan told parliament the cabinet is considering lifting a ban on Xinhua and the People's Daily basing reporters in Taiwan. The former pro-independence government issued the ban in 2005 on the grounds the two media outlets reported negatively about Taiwan.

Taiwan and China had remained at the loggerheads since they split at the end of a civil war in 1949. Taipei has banned direct contacts with China and bar senior officials from visiting the mainland. (dpa)