The Kuomintang (KMT) party chairman said the plan would be part of his "roadmap to peace" to end the decades of hostilities with Beijing.

"I hope before (my inauguration on) May 20, with the people's mandate, I could make a peace journey to China on the basis of equality and dignity," Lien said during an interview with Japanese press here.

"We must ask China to freeze and phase out the missiles deployed along its coast, because Taiwan is not an aggressive country," he added.

China has threatened to invade Taiwan if it declares independence and has deployed some 500 ballistic missiles targeting the island along its south-eastern coast.

If elected on March 20, Lien said he would also start negotiations with China on direct cross-strait shipping and air links, and a free trade agreement creating a "cross-strait common market."

"If all these things go smoothly, we can then officially end the state of hostilities and sign a peace accord, bringing about at least 50 years of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," he said.

The KMT and its ally, the People First Party (PFP), have favoured eventual reunification with mainland China, from which Taiwan split at the end of a civil war in 1949.

But Lien has been flexible during the election campaign, promising to maintain the status quo with China and saying that future generations should make any changes, with independence remaining an option.

China has attacked Lien's opponent, President Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), for trying to promote independence for Taiwan, which it considers part of its territory awaiting reunification.

WAR.WIRE