BEIJING Macedonian Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva arrived in China Monday on a mission to normalise relations with Beijing, an official at the Diaoyutai state guest house told AFP.

The official said Mitreva would hold two days of talks with Foreign Ministry officials and would be staying at Diaoyutai, an exclusive compound of villas in Beijing where China often houses important foreign guests.

Before leaving Skopje, Mitreva said she would sign a document on normalising relations with Beijing during her visit but that it would not lead to the immediate establishment of diplomatic relations.

Earlier Monday Taiwan announced that it had severed relations with Macedonia, which was one of 29 countries that formally recognised the government in Taipei rather than Beijing.

Taipei said it broke off the relations, agreed in February 1999, after Macedonia indicated it would recognise Beijing.

Taiwan has been ruled separately from mainland China since defeated nationalist forces fled to the island following their defeat by the communists in a civil war in 1949.

The two sides have long been engaged in a diplomatic tug-of-war and try to woo each allies away from each other with economic and financial aid, and Beijing works ceaselessly to isolate Taipei on the international stage.