2005/11/15
By Lin Yu-Ling, Taipei
After the end of the diplomatic relations with Senegal, anyone of our allies is likely be the next to lose, especially the Vatican, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs (MOF) Mark Chen.
Just after Senegal picked China over Taiwan, the legislative Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee focused its discussion on the present diplomatic setback.
Now Taiwan has only twenty-five allies left, which account for less than one percent of the populations in the world. Among them, the Vatican is particularly important because it is the only country in Europe of official diplomatic relationship. Not to mention the tremendous influence the Vatican has on other countries.
In the past, Taiwan has always maintained a friendly relationship with the Vatican while China been hostile to the Vatican for more than fifty years.
However, according to The Times in the UK last month, the Vatican is having agreements with China over the right of bishop appointment and preparing to establish diplomatic relations with China instead of Taiwan.
In response to this report, Chen admitted to the legislators that our relations with other allies were also at risk, the Vatican in particular, but he emphasized that our ambassadors in the Vatican as well as other countries have been extremely cautious and hard-working. “They can’t even sleep well at night,” said Chen.
He also stated that there have been endless rumors about the Vatican’s contacts with China for a long time and the MOF has always reminded the Ambassador to pay attention, voice for Taiwan and “hamper anything from happening.”
The Church is a tricky situation because Pope Benedict has just stepped in, bringing along with his own values and styles, said Chen. Though the new Pope was believed to disapprove communism, he would still try to take care of the immense number of Catholics in China.
Bishop appointment has been considered one of the greatest obstacles between between Beijing and the Vatican before. To some extent, nevertheless, it has been “tacitly” solved in recent months as China is gradually accepting the “approval,” if not “appointment,” of the bishops in China by the Pope.
Moreover, it is considered a deliberate signal from the Vatican when Cardinal Angelo Sodano said at a conference that the Vatican would move its ambassador from Taiwan to Beijing immediately after it establishes diplomatic relations with China.
On the other hand, Cardinal Bishop Paul Shan(單國璽), President of the Chinese Catholic Bishops' Conference(中國主教團主席), has just come back from the Synod of Bishops in Rome. He denied that there was a slight possibility of the end of our diplomatic relationship with the Vatican. “The Pope has said nothing,” and the Church will not do something under table, said Shan.
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