Taipei - Taiwan prosecutors on Thursday requested a 14-month prison term for a city councilman after charging him with inciting a mob to attack a visiting Chinese official last week.

"Through radio broadcasting, the defendant Wang Ting-yu publicly incited the public to rally at the venue where Zhang Mingqing visited and led the mob in applying violence by pushing Zhang, resulting in Zhang being shoved to the ground and injured," prosecutor Lee Ching-wen said.

"For this, we are seeking a sentence of one year and two months in prison against the defendant," she said.

Lee said prosecutors also charged six other people with attacking Zhang October 21 and preventing his car from leaving from a visit to a temple in the southern city of Tainan, a home base of Taiwan independence advocates.

Zhang - deputy chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, which represents China in talks with Taiwan - filed a lawsuit against his assailants after the attack, which drew condemnation from both Chinese and Taiwan authorities.

Wang denied he had ever incited the public to attack Zhang, claiming the so-called assailants were ordinary civilians who were dissatisfied with a comment by Zhang that if there was no Taiwan independence, there would be no cross-strait war.

Wang said Tuesday that he was later beaten by gangsters linked to China for the attack on Zhang. He said the gangsters demanded he apologize to Zhang or he would be killed. Beijing said what Wang claimed was absurd.

The indictment drew an outcry from lawmakers of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, who claimed it was a political intrigue by the government of China-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou to purge anti-China and pro-independence supporters.

The indictment came ahead of a planned visit by China's top negotiator with Taiwan, Chen Yunlin, who is to lead a 60-member delegation for talks in Taipei from Monday through November 7.

Chen and his Taiwan counterpart, Chiang Ping-kun, were expected to discuss and sign pacts on direct shipping, postal services, expansion of weekend charter flights and the safety of China's food exports to Taiwan. Chen was also expected to meet Ma on November 7. (dpa)