Taiwan and mainland China are expected to begin formal talks on signing a wide-ranging trade agreement by next spring or earlier after Beijing publicly sanctioned the negotiations, reported AP.

On Sunday, China's Taiwan Affairs Office chief Wang Yi said the two sides could begin talks on the trade pact, known as the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, during a new round of bilateral talks later this year. This was the first time a senior Chinese official has proposed a timeframe for it.

Taiwan and China have already started informal talks on the trade pact, and Taiwan wants to sign the agreement next spring. Taiwan and China have scheduled their next round of high-level talks in Taichung, Taiwan's third largest city, for the middle or end of December.

The trade agreement would permit the free flow of many goods, services and capital between Taiwan and China. It would allow the island to keep its competitive standing in the region as Beijing is set to allow tariff-free imports from Southeast Asian countries as soon as next January.

Taiwan has said the pact will not include agricultural goods and will not allow the import of mainland Chinese laborers.