It would not be a tough decision for the Holy See, Taiwan’s only ally in Europe, to switch diplomatic recognition to China, but the timing is not ripe, diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks on Aug. 30 showed.
A cable dated April 24, 2009, quotes Holy See Ministry of Foreign Affairs Country Director for China Monsignor Gianfranco -Rota-Graziosi as saying that “the Vatican would make alternative arrangements short of diplomatic relations with Taiwan, if this would improve ties with Beijing or religious freedom in the mainland.”
“For the Vatican, Rota said, diplomatic relations are a means to promote religious freedom, not/not [sic] an end to themselves. The goal, he added, is to create space for the Church to operate free of -government interference,” the cable says.
The senior Vatican official made the point to Cartin Noyes, the then-charge d’affaires of the US embassy in the Vatican on April 22, 2009.
Rota had said that it was “common knowledge: the Holy See would downgrade its relationship with Taiwan ‘overnight’ with the right word from Beijing,” as recorded in a cable dated Nov 24, 2006, originating from the US -embassy in the Vatican.
Noyes said that Rota, having covered China at the Holy See’s Secretariat of State for 19 years, “was not optimistic current PRC [People’s Republic of China] authorities would relinquish their power over religious groups.”
Even though Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) appears to be more open than his predecessor, Jiang Zemin (江澤民), “he does not seem to be as influential — and so not able to push through a rapprochement with the Church,” he said.
Another cable dated Feb. 4, 2009, from the US consulate in Guangzhou, China, quotes Guangzhou’s Bishop Joseph Gan as saying that the issue of Taiwan-Vatican relations was a relatively easy one to work out.
The issues of Taiwan-Vatican relations and the recognition and ordination of bishops could be resolved “in a day.”
“But religious freedom was a far more contentious, indeed potentially irreconcilable matter,” the cable quotes Gan as saying.
Over the years, the Chinese government has continued to insist that the Holy See break diplomatic relations with Taiwan before it will discuss control over the appointment of bishops, what it described as two main obstacles for advancing its relationship with the Vatican, but the Holy See wants it the other way around.
A cable dated Jan. 29 last year shows that US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had asked overseas posts to provide information about any possible change in the triangular relationship between Beijing, the Holy See and Taiwan after China expressed willingness to permit Caritas’ charity work in the country.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
Taiwan must invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to keep abreast of the next technological leap toward automation, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said at the luanch ceremony of Taiwan AI and Robots Alliance yesterday. The world is on the cusp of a new industrial revolution centered on AI and robotics, which would likely lead to a thorough transformation of human society, she told an event marking the establishment of a national AI and robotics alliance in Taipei. The arrival of the next industrial revolution could be a matter of years, she said. The pace of automation in the global economy can
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
RSS