Shih Yen-hsiang said he was confident that the proposed trade pact with China, known as the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), would help convince other trading partners to ink similar deals with Taipei.

"As long as ECFA is signed, the United States, Japan, as well as members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries and the European Union are sure to sign free trade agreements with Taiwan," he said during a gathering outside Taipei Saturday, the United Daily News reported.

Shih did not go into details as to why he was so sure that other countries would follow suit, but another economic official told AFP Sunday that "a number of countries have voiced such thinking to us before".

Taiwan already has free trade deals with Panama, Guatemala and Nicaragua and has been pushing to forge pacts with other major trading partners.

But talks have become bogged down, largely due to pressure from Beijing, which still considers the island as part of its territory, even though the island has governed itself since 1949 at the end of a civil war.

Ties between Taiwan and its giant neighbour have improved markedly since Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang party came to power in 2008, pledging to improve trade links and allowing in more Chinese tourists.

In an interview with AFP last week, Ma said Taiwan could sign the historic trade deal with China as early as June.

He said the pact would boost economic growth and create new jobs through greater trade, but opponents say stronger competition from China will cost jobs and the accord will make the island more dependent on the mainland.

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