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Gusmao in China for talks

BEIJING: East Timor independence leader Xanana Gusmao flew into Beijing on Monday for talks with Chinese leaders on diplomatic relations and the situation in his strife-torn homeland, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Beijing is also hosting a visit by Indonesia's air force chief, Marshal Hanafie Asnan, who arrived on Saturday for a five-day visit at the invitation of China's air force commander, Lieutenant General Liu Shunyao, the agency said.

Xinhua gave no further details of the two visits.

Gusmao, widely expected to become his independent homeland's first president, would meet Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao, Vice Premier Qian Qichen and Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan during his four-day visit, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said last week.

China is eager to woo Gusmao and prevent an independent East Timor from recognising wealthy rival Taiwan, which has used its economic leverage to win over Beijijng's diplomatic allies.

It was unclear if China would give any money to help rebuild devastated East Timor.

Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province and has sought to push the island into diplomatic isolation since Nationalists fled there into exile after being defeated in a civil war in 1949.

Taiwan has fewer than 30 diplomatic allies, most of them impoverished countries in Africa and Latin America.-Reuters