Taipei - Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou suggested Friday that Taiwan and China set up "corresponding agencies" to cope with the sharp increase in cross-strait contacts.

Ma made the remark while visiting the Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF), the semi-official agency in charge of handling ties with China in the absence of formal ties with China.

"We have noticed that there are more and more mainland tourists visiting Taiwan. So is it time to consider the two sides setting up corresponding agencies in certain fields?" he said.

"This issue was raised long time ago, but back then the time was not ripe. Whether the time is ripe, we can discuss it," he said.

"As a matter of fact, the increase in work requires more coordination. In order to keep out work moving as planned, maybe we should consider it (setting up corresponding agencies with China)," he said.

Taiwan and China have been split since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. In the early 1990s, Taiwan launched SEF and China launched the Association of Relations across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) to handle ties in the absence of formal ties.

There has been suggestions in the local press that Taiwan and China set up representative offices to issue visas, but the Taiwan government has not commented on what is a sensitive issue, as many Taiwanese do not want Taipei to get too close to China.

Taiwan claims it is a sovereign country currently recognized by 23 countries, but China sees Taiwan as Beijing's breakaway province awaiting unification with the mainland.

Cross-strait contacts have increased sharply since Ma took office in May 2008. Taiwan and China have since opened air, sea, postal and tourism links, and some 200,000 Chinese tourists have visited Taiwan. (dpa)