Taipei  - A city councilman who allegedly incited a mob to attack a visiting Chinese official last week claimed Tuesday that he was beaten by gangsters linked to China.

"They punched me twice in the chest and demanded that I apologize to Zhang Mingqing or I would be killed," Wang Ting-yu, a city councilman of the southern city of Tainan, said in a news conference in Taipei.

He said he received a phone call from an acquaintance identified as Huang Ju-yi, who asked for a meeting in Taipei last Thursday. When he went to Huang's office, he was taken to another room where some 20 men who he said looked like gangsters surrounded him.

Wang said one of the men chided him for masterminding the mobbing of Zhang and forced him to sign a letter of apology for Zhang, which he refused. He was later punched in the chest, but was allowed to go, he claimed.

Zhang, deputy chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, which represents China in talks with Taiwan, was shoved to the ground by a group of pro-independence activists during a visit to a Tainan temple last Tuesday. Wang led the mob during the attack, which drew condemnation from both Chinese and Taiwanese authorities.

Police Tuesday said they were investigating the case.

The alleged threat came ahead of a planned visit by China top negotiator with Taiwan Chen Yunlin, who will lead a 60-member delegation for a second round of talks in Taipei from November 3-7.

Chen and his Taiwan counterpart Chiang Ping-kun are expected to discuss and sign pacts on direct shipping, postal services, expansion of weekend charter flights and the safety of China's food exports nto Taiwan. dpa le tl