The dialogue between the Vatican and China has been limited to ecclesiastical affairs and has not touched upon political or diplomatic issues, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
“During his meeting with Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) at the Vatican in early September, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who serves as the Vatican’s secretary of state, said that the Holy See must engage in dialogue with Beijing for the purposes of evangelization and pastoral work to solve problems related to the promotion of the Catholic Church,” the ministry said in a statement.
Parolin said the talks have only been about church-related matters and have not touched upon political issues or diplomatic relations, the ministry said, adding that it has a decent understanding of interactions between the Holy See and Beijing and has conducted regular strategic analyses.
The ministry was responding to a Chinese-language report published on Radio France Internationale’s Web site on Saturday that cited anonymous sources as saying the negotiations between the Vatican and Beijing about establishing diplomatic ties have reached the final stage and that the two sides are inclined to establish a formal relationship.
The report also quoted Renmin University of China international relations professor Wang Yiwei (王義桅) as telling French media that the Vatican and China are likely to solve the issue of the appointment of bishops by following the “Vietnamese model” set up in 2010.
Under the model, the Vatican would be able to appoint bishops in appearance after they are chosen by the Chinese government, Wang was quoted as saying.
The Vatican, Taiwan’s sole European diplomatic ally, is believed to be one of the states most likely to switch diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
The fear of losing the Holy See has been renewed after Sao Tome and Principe, an African nation that had been Taiwan’s diplomatic ally since 1997, cut ties with Taipei last week.
The ministry reiterated its determination to reinforce Taipei’s cooperative relationship with the Vatican based on the universal values of peace and freedom and to promote mutual visits of high-level officials from both sides.
“We will participate in international events held by the Holy See and do our utmost to consolidate our cooperation with it on humanitarian charities to become an indispensable partner to the Vatican and the international community in promoting kindness and peace,” the ministry said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS