Taipei  - The chairman of Taiwan's ruling Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) plans to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on August 8, his spokesman said.

"The chairman will attend the opening ceremony in Beijing on August 8 at the invitation of Communist Party General Secretary Hu Jintao," said KMT spokesman Lee Chien-jung.

He said Hu extended the invitation to Wu Poh-hsiung during their historic visit to Beijing in late May and the KMT chairman had told the Chinese leader he would go.

Wu is expected to leave for Beijing on August 6, Lee said.

It would be Wu's second visit and meeting with Hu as head of the party following their landmark talks that set the stage for the operation of cross-strait weekend charter flights, among a variety of economic and political issues discussed by the two leaders to improve relations.

Lee declined to confirm if the two would hold any formal talks as local news media have reported, saying it would be extremely busy in that period for Hu to play host to leaders from more than 80 countries.

KMT ruled China until it was defeated by the communists at the end of a civil war in 1949 and fled to Taiwan. (dpa)