China blocks Taiwan ex-VP's Egypt trip, party says

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Egypt has bowed to pressure from China by barring a former top Taiwanese official who was critical of Beijing from visiting Cairo ahead of a China-Africa summit, the opposition said on Tuesday.

China's actions in preventing former vice president Annette Lu's visit underline Beijing's concerns over the island's role overseas despite their warming ties, Lu's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said.

China, which claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan, will send Premier Wen Jiabao to Egypt for the second China-Africa summit on Nov. 8-9.

China has claimed Taiwan as its own since 1949, when Mao Zedong's forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists (KMT) fled to the island. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary.

Lu's government at the time, led by ex-president Chen Shui-bian, sought to expand Taiwan's influence in Africa and elsewhere to win eventual support for its goal of formal independence from China.

(Reporting by Ralph Jennings; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)