Concern over increasing signs that a rapprochement between the Vatican and Beijing could be just months away does not seem to be limited to Taiwan, but extends to members of the Catholic hierarchy and the faithful as well.
Retired Hong Kong cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君) has been among the most vocal opponents of Pope Francis’ drive to mend ties with China — but he is not the only one, according to wire agencies.
It is ironic that Zen has been so critical — he has said that a Vatican-China pact would be a catastrophe that would bring suffering to millions of Catholics — given that his elevation to cardinal by then-pope Benedict XVI in 2006 was seen by many, including Zen himself, as an attempt to build a bridge between the papal state and Beijing.
However, even as bishop of the Hong Kong diocese, Zen was an outspoken proponent of religious freedom in China. Now he says the Vatican is “selling out” those Catholics who have remained loyal to Rome instead of becoming members of the state-sanctioned Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.
It is also ironic that the Vatican, which for centuries has fought to maintain the pontiff’s supremacy in all things church-related and ruthlessly battled all who sought to challenge papal authority, is now willing to go along with Beijing’s control over the association and bishops’ appointments, whatever the token compromise that Beijing has offered to make.
One cannot help but draw comparisons with those authorities in the sports world who were willing to sacrifice principles and the lives of many people for the “glory” of bringing their games to a new country — Juan Antonio Samaranch and the International Olympic Committee’s years-long effort to get the Olympics to China and the unholy mess that is FIFA with the awarding of tournaments to Qatar and Russia are just two that spring to mind.
It is also hard not to feel that some in the Vatican ranks have fallen under the sway of the “great China market myth,” only it is souls, not sales of bottles of cola, that they covet.
What else to make of comments such as Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences head Archbishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo saying that Chinese are perhaps best at implementing the Catholic Church’s teachings on social issues, such as concern for the environment and human dignity; or Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin saying that the Vatican understood the pain of Chinese Catholics.
What kind of human dignity does Sanchez Sorondo think has been accorded the hundreds of lawyers and rights activists rounded up in China since July 2015, or Beijing’s harassment and unspeakable abuse of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) or his wife, Liu Xia (劉霞). What about the destruction of China’s environment?
Make no mistake, the devout atheist cynics that rule in Beijing are not trying to make some accommodation with the Christian faithful in their nation; they are trying to punish Taiwanese for not believing in their creed of the eternal “one China.”
How else to explain the willingness of Chinese officials in the past two years since the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) returned to the Presidential Office to reach an accommodation with the papal state — after years of outreach by Rome — except as part of the drive to deprive Taiwan of yet another diplomatic ally.
Perhaps Taiwan can take some solace in the fact that previous efforts to reach such an accord have hit roadblocks; the two sides were supposed to be on the verge of a deal in November 2016, only for it to come to naught.
One caveat: If the rapprochement does come to pass, let there not be the usual finger-pointing and name-calling over “who is to blame” for Taiwan “losing” another ally.
For such a fault, if one exists, lies not with the DPP, or any other Taiwanese, but with the masters of Machiavellian politics in Zhongnanhai.
A series of strong earthquakes in Hualien County not only caused severe damage in Taiwan, but also revealed that China’s power has permeated everywhere. A Taiwanese woman posted on the Internet that she found clips of the earthquake — which were recorded by the security camera in her home — on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu. It is spine-chilling that the problem might be because the security camera was manufactured in China. China has widely collected information, infringed upon public privacy and raised information security threats through various social media platforms, as well as telecommunication and security equipment. Several former TikTok employees revealed
For the incoming Administration of President-elect William Lai (賴清德), successfully deterring a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attack or invasion of democratic Taiwan over his four-year term would be a clear victory. But it could also be a curse, because during those four years the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will grow far stronger. As such, increased vigilance in Washington and Taipei will be needed to ensure that already multiplying CCP threat trends don’t overwhelm Taiwan, the United States, and their democratic allies. One CCP attempt to overwhelm was announced on April 19, 2024, namely that the PLA had erred in combining major missions
At the same time as more than 30 military aircraft were detected near Taiwan — one of the highest daily incursions this year — with some flying as close as 37 nautical miles (69kms) from the northern city of Keelung, China announced a limited and selected relaxation of restrictions on Taiwanese agricultural exports and tourism, upon receiving a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) delegation led by KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁). This demonstrates the two-faced gimmick of China’s “united front” strategy. Despite the strongest earthquake to hit the nation in 25 years striking Hualien on April 3, which caused
The Constitutional Court on Tuesday last week held a debate over the constitutionality of the death penalty. The issue of the retention or abolition of the death penalty often involves the conceptual aspects of social values and even religious philosophies. As it is written in The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, the government’s policy is often a choice between the lesser of two evils or the greater of two goods, and it is impossible to be perfect. Today’s controversy over the retention or abolition of the death penalty can be viewed in the same way. UNACCEPTABLE Viewing the