Taipei  - President Ma Ying-jeou said Wednesday that China is the key to Taiwan's economy and the third round of Taipei-Beijing talks will focus on economic cooperation.

In an interview with the Radio Taiwan International (RTI) broadcast live to the mainland, Ma explained his China policy and answered some of the 8,000 questions posted by Chinese listeners online.

"Trade with China has reached a record high of 130 billion US dollars. That is significant because foreign trade has always been key to Taiwan's economic growth, sometimes contributing as much as 75 per cent to Taiwan's economic growth," he said.

"The third dialogue will touch on signing a financial cooperation memorandum of understanding, a pact on fighting crimes, or an investment protection pact," he noted.

Ma stressed that both Beijing and Taipei agree they should put aside differences and cooperate on trade and stability.

Ma refuted the opposition Democratic Progressive Party's criticism that he has sacrificed Taiwan's sovereignty in contacts with China.

After Ma of the pro-China Chinese Nationalist Party became president on May 20, Taipei and Beijing resumed the dialogue which was halted in 1995 to retaliate against former president Lee Teng-hui's seeking independence for Taiwan.

The two sides held one dialogue in Beijing in June and a second in Taipei in November. At the second meeting, they agreed to launch direct shipping, direct postal service and daily charter flights on December 15.

The next dialogue is scheduled to be held in China next spring.

Chinese listeners submitted 8,412 questions for Ma on the RTI website and China's ifeng. com website. Most of the questions were about Taiwan-China unification, with the rest ranging from how Ma keeps his youthful looks and if he will allow his daughters to marry Chinese mainlanders. Ma has two daughters who are studying at US universities.

Responding to a question about his visiting China, Ma said that the time is not ripe yet and visiting China is not the most urgent issue for him now. (dpa)