Taipei  - Taiwan plans to send first lady Chou Mei-ching to China in a bid to improve ties, a magazine said Wednesday, but the presidential office denied it.

Chou, wife of President Ma Ying-jeou, plans to go to China in August as the honorary president of the Taiwan Red Cross to deliver Taiwan's donation for earthquake relief for Sichuan province, Next Magazine said, citing unnamed security sources.

Taiwan's people have donated 1.52 billion Taiwan dollars (46 million US dollars) for the reconstruction of Sichuan, which was hit by a May 12 quake, which left 88,000 people dead or missing in China.

The trip would be the first to China by a Taiwan first lady and comes as tensions with China have been easing after Ma, from the China-friendly Chinese Nationalist Party, became president on May 20.

Next Magazine said the proposal to let Chou visit China was made by Chen Shih-kui, deputy secretary general of the Taiwan Red Cross.

"We were just chatting and someone mentioned that Chou Mei-ching can visit China," he said. "The Red Cross is not making any arrangement or discussing it."

Presidential spokesman Wang Yu-chi denied that the government plans to send the first lady to China. (dpa)