Top Taiwan official angered by failed appointment with Chinese visitor TAIPEI, May 25 (AFP) - A top Taiwanese official handling exchanges with rival China expressed anger Tuesday after a visiting mainland official refused to visit his office. Shi Hwei-yow, secretary general of the quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), criticised the unexplained move by Xu Shiquan, who heads the Institute of Taiwan Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "As far as I know he was to come to the office according to the appointment," Shi told reporters. "Since he would not come upstairs, there was no reason for me to make other arrangements." He did not say why his visitor canceled the meeting. Chinese officials have in the past repeatedly refused to attend any meeting or gathering at which Taiwan's national flag is displayed. Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province. Shi's secretary said there was no flag in his office, only a portrait of Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui. SEF deputy secretary general Jan Jyh-horng later met Xu at a basement restaurant. Xu is also a board member of the SEF's Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS). China called off rapprochement talks with Taiwan in mid-1995 following a US trip by President Lee. They did not resume contacts until last year when SEF chairman Koo Chen-fu traveled to the mainland on a fence-mending trip. ARATS chairman Wang Daohan plans to visit Taiwan in the autumn but Beijing has not yet proposed exact dates.  