Taiwan and Singapore will explore the possibility of signing a free-trade style agreement later this year, representatives of the two governments said Thursday.

The move comes after Taiwan recently signed a free-trade deal with political rival China, which Taipei has said would pave the way for the island to agree similar pacts with its other major trading partners.

Singapore is the first of Taiwan’s major trading partners, other than China, to acknowledge a willingness to form a trade agreement with the self-ruling island.

Taiwan has free-trade agreements with several small countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations, but its major trading partners have previously refrained from discussing trade deals with the island because of objections from China.

Taiwan and Singapore, both members of World Trade Organization, plan to meet later this year to discuss an agreement, the Taipei Representative Office in Singapore and the Singapore Trade Office in Taipei said in a joint statement.

Taiwan and Singapore don’t have formal diplomatic relations.

Singapore was Taiwan’s fourth-largest export market by value in the first half, after China, the US, and Japan. The Southeast Asian country was also Taiwan’s ninth-largest import market, according to data from Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance.

Taiwan’s administration, led by President Ma Ying-jeou, has been focusing on improving relations with China and pursuing free-trade pacts with neighboring countries since it came to power in May 2008, to prevent Taiwan becoming isolated in the regional economy.

“We will negotiate with Singapore an economic cooperation deal under the World Trade Organization framework,” said Taiwan presidential office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang. “We won’t necessarily use ‘free trade agreement’ for the deal’s title. The administrative departments will decide the official title of the deal after negotiations.”

He declined to say when Taiwan expects to sign a trade pact with Singapore.

Shin-yuan Lai, minister of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, said Thursday “many countries and trading partners have shown strong interest in forming” free trade agreements with Taiwan recently. She didn’t name the countries.

She said it is Taiwan’s right as a member of the WTO to sign free-trade agreements with its trading partners.

“The right to make that decision is with Taiwan, not with mainland China,” she said.

China’s reaction to the planned talks between Singapore and Taiwan suggested the three sides have reached consensus on the matter. “We believe Singapore will adhere to the one-China policy, and properly handle its economic and trade relations with Taiwan accordingly,” the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported an unnamed spokesperson at China’s State Council Taiwan Affairs Office as saying.