Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) on Monday said that Taiwan maintains “good and sustainable relations” with the Holy See, amid speculation that efforts by the Vatican and Beijing to establish diplomatic relations are making progress.
Chen, who is on a visit to the Holy See, said the trip has helped reaffirm Taiwan’s partnership and dialogue with the Vatican, with which he said Taiwan shares common core values.
Issues concerning the Holy See’s interactions with Beijing were raised during his meeting on Sunday with Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Chen said.
Photo: CNA
Parolin said that the Holy See’s dialogue with Beijing has mainly focused on church affairs, according to Chen.
Chen said he told Parolin that he understands Pope Francis’ hope to reach the 12 million Catholics in China and to appoint bishops there.
Reports last month said that the Chinese government was willing to reach an “understanding” with the Vatican over the contentious issue of appointing bishops, giving rise to speculation that the Holy See and Beijing have moved a step closer to establishing diplomatic ties.
Taipei has reiterated that its ties with the Vatican remain firm and close.
The Vatican established diplomatic ties with the Republic of China in 1942, but recalled its ambassador and appointed a charge d’affaires when Taipei’s seat at the UN was taken over by the People’s Republic of China in 1971.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching