"Early next year we'll have the next TIFA round ... in Taipei," Timothy Stratford, the Assistant US Trade Representative for China affairs, told a forum of the US-Taiwan Business Council in Washington.

"We in Washington, and I am sure in Taipei, want to put an agenda of trade and economic and trade issues that the two governments can discuss that would be of greatest benefits to the business community," he said.

The United States had resumed TIFA talks with Taiwan in November 2004 after a six-year hiatus due to problems in areas such as intellectual property rights, telecommunication, agriculture and pharmaceuticals, in which Taiwan have made some "significant" progress, Stratford said.

He admitted there was a "bit of delay" in having the new round of talks but did not give any specific reasons.

Taiwan, the ninth largest US trading partner, is seen as a thorn in relations between the United States and China.

Despite switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, the United States remains Taiwan's biggest arms supplier and is bound by US law to help the island defend itself against any attack.