A Chinese mainland official refuted media reports that a Taiwan leader's office staffer leaked secrets to the mainland at a press briefing wednesday.

State Council Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Yang Yi said, "It was mere fabrication and there is no such thing."

Yang said some Taiwan media reported that confidential documents had been leaked to the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) by one of Ma Ying-jeou's staffers.

According to media reports, that staffer was Wang Ren-bing. He was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of leaking information to the mainland.

New cross-Straits talks "still about economics"

Also on the same occasion, Yang Yi said that the next round of talks between the mainland and Taiwan, scheduled for later this year, will retain a focus on economic issues.

Talks between the mainland and Taiwan are conducted through ARATS and the island's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF).

The talks were suspended for almost 10 years until last June, when ARATS leader Chen Yunlin and SEF chief Chiang Pin-kung held their first meeting in Beijing. The second meeting was held in Taiwan in November.

The mainland and Taiwan reached many economic agreements at previous rounds of talks, but so far no political issues have been touched upon.

Yang said the ARATS and the SEF are discussing a detailed agenda for the next round of talks, which will be held within this year.

"A consensus is that the talks should still focus on economic issues that people across the Straits are most concerned about," Yang told reporters.

The topics will include regular cross-Straits flights, cooperation between financial agencies, joint crackdowns on crimes, intellectual property rights protection, quality inspection and quarantine of agricultural products, avoidance of double taxation, investment protection and permanent bureaus for media organizations, Yang said.

"We hope a broad consensus could be reached after the talks ... to push the normalization of cross-Straits economic ties and boost the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations," he said.

Reports said that the Taiwan side hoped the third round of talks could be held in May or June.

Founded in 1991 and 1990 respectively, the ARATS and the SEF are authorized by the mainland and Taiwan to handle cross-Straits exchanges.