HK rights groups protest warming China-Vatican ties

Rights groups in Hong Kong yesterday marched in protest at warming ties between China and the Vatican, saying Rome should halt talks until Beijing grants full religious freedoms to mainlanders.

About 20 activists led by the China-baiting Southern Democratic Alliance marched through downtown to the city's Catholic Cathedral where they handed a petition to Catholic leader Cardinal Joseph Zen's (陳日君) assistant.

"If the Holy See [Vatican] re-establishes links with China while China is still oppressing religious freedoms, that would be wrong," alliance chairman James Lung said.

Zen, made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI last month, is seen as key to the church's desire to rebuild bridges between China and Rome. All ties were severed in 1951 after Beijing expelled the Vatican's envoy.

Followers of the pontiff are forced to worship illegally in the so-called underground church.

Zen said the Vatican had indicated it would be prepared to drop its ties with Taiwan to win Beijing's support. Any such move would be matched by an apology from the pope, he said.

Lung believed such a move would be disastrous.

"Who would represent Taiwan after that?" he asked. "The Vatican is the only state in Europe that recognizes Taiwan. Taiwan's believers would be left in the cold."