As long as the Chinese government does not guarantee freedom of religion, the Holy See is unlikely to establish diplomatic ties with Beijing, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said yesterday.
The Vatican is scheduled to hold a meeting to discuss its China policy in the coming weeks and Cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君), the bishop of Hong Kong and the only Chinese cardinal, will be attending.
Asked whether the Vatican will discuss the issue of opening diplomatic channels with China, David Liu (劉宜民), director of MOFA's department of European Affairs, said in a regular press conference yesterday he did not think the Vatican would switch ties from Taiwan to China, as Beijing has yet to uphold freedom of religion.
The meeting will also address China's appointment of several bishops in spite of Vatican opposition and how to help churches in China deal with the issue of freedom of religion.
"The meeting will tackle these issues. There should be no question of a change in diplomatic ties," Liu said.
"We enjoy smooth communication with the Vatican and it will give us a report on the results of the meeting," he added.
China has claimed it will establish diplomatic relations with the Vatican before next year.
Beijing also made a proposal to the Vatican -- that the Vatican will have a perogative on the appointment of bishops as long as it does not meddle in China's internal affairs and that it break its diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
"We believe the Vatican will remain intransigent on that issue," Liu said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it