TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Taiwan’s former vice president blasted the government’s policies of closer ties with China, but declined to say Tuesday whether she herself would visit the mainland, underscoring her party’s struggle to define its attitude toward Beijing.

A possible China visit for Annette Lu has been mooted since she left office in May 2008. Such a visit would have huge implications for her Democratic Progressive Party, which ruled Taiwan for eight years but was soundly defeated by President Ma Ying-jeouNationalists in the last presidential elections.

At least on paper, the DPP favors formal independence for Taiwan, which split from China amid civil war in 1949. It sees in the island’s distinctive culture - an amalgam of Chinese, Japanese and Western influences - and its evolving democratic institutions as the basis for a sovereign identity separate from Communist-run mainland China.

Speaking to reporters in Taipei on Tuesday, Lu hewed to standard DPP rhetoric, criticizing the Ma government for its moves to bring Taiwan closer to China economically, including its recent agreement on financial cooperation, which was not brought before lawmakers for debate.

"We are very concerned and worried about Ma’s China policy," she said. "He has not allowed the legislature to supervise and approve his agreements with China."