It was Chen Yunlin's fourth Taiwan trip, but it was the first time he visited at the head of a business delegation, bringing in tow representatives of about 20 Chinese companies.

Chen, chief of China's semi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, landed in an airport near Taipei amid tight security while dozens of protesters rallied and scuffled briefly with the police.

Later Taipei city councillor Tung Chung-yen from the anti-China opposition protested outside Chen's hotel, broadcasting a popular folk song named "Jasmine Flower" from a loudspeaker, in an allusion to Tunisia's "Jasmine revolution".

"I hope Chen Yunlin can take human rights, freedom and democracy back to China," said Tung, holding a bundle of plastic jasmine flowers that he said he wanted to present to the Chinese visitor.

Meanwhile, Chen spent the first day of his planned six-day trip talking about business.

"Why do we come at this moment? The reason is simple. To put it briefly, it's to promote development of the mainland and Taiwan as well," Chen said at a business seminar in Taipei.

On Thursday, Chen is due to leave for Kaohsiung, the island's biggest city in the south, where radical anti-China groups have vowed to stage mass protests wherever he goes.

Chen reportedly had to drop plans to visit Tainan, another stronghold of the island's pro-independence forces, due to security concerns.

Chen's previous visits to Taiwan had sparked protests from those who feared that closer ties with China could erode the island's de facto sovereignty.

In the absence of official contacts between the two sides, Chen's association is authorised by Beijing to handle civilian exchanges with Taiwan.

China still claims Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting unification, by force if necessary, even though the two sides have been governed separately since the end of a civil war in 1949.

However, ties have improved markedly since Beijing-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou of the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang party took office in 2008.

Chang Hsien-chao, professor of political science in National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung, said the trip may provide a good chance for Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu, a political heavyweight, to improve relations.

"This trip will serve as a rare opportunity for both sides to patch up ties," he said.

China remains angered by a controversial visit to Kaohsiung in 2009 by the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader labelled as "splitist" by the Chinese authorities.

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