Among the many tasks facing Pope Benedict XVI is to decide whether the Vatican should maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan or resume ties with China.
China and Taiwan are anxious for a Vatican decision on diplomatic recognition, and both lined up as suitors on Wednesday following the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
"We hope under the leadership of the new pope, the Vatican side can create favorable conditions for improving bilateral ties," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang (秦鋼) said in a statement.
ILLUSTRATION: YU SHA
But he repeated Beijing's precondition for resuming ties -- that the Vatican must sever diplomatic recognition of Taiwan and must not intervene in China's domestic affairs.
President Chen Shui-bian (
The Vatican is one of the 25 mostly small nations recognizing the Republic of China. But it has been rumored to be planning to abandon Taiwan and resume ties with China, causing anxiety in Taipei.
Just one week before Pope John Paul died, a Vatican envoy visited Beijing and met with Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu (
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported recently that China may give up control of its church in order to resume ties with the Vatican.
Taiwan is worried that a Vatican recognition of China could prompt its other 24 allies to shift diplomatic allegiance also, further increasing Taiwan's international isolation.
But some Taiwanese scholars dismissed the concerns.
"Resuming ties with China is not on the priority list for the new Pope. He has more urgent tasks to handle, like healing the division within the Church," said Liu Bi-rong (劉必榮), a professor of politics at Soochow University.
"Even if the Vatican drops Taiwan, I don't think it will have a domino effect on our other allies because each country has its own needs and considerations," he said.
The Vatican could also establish formal ties with China under a special arrangement, such as opening an embassy in Beijing while maintaining its mission in Taipei with a lower level of diplomatic representation.
"It is very easy for the Vatican to switch diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China; it only has to announce that its embassy in China has re-opened," one Taiwanese diplomat suggested.
The struggle for the control of the Chinese Catholic Church could also be solved with a compromise, the diplomat said.
"They can reach an agreement so that China can give the Vatican a list of candidates for bishops, and let the Pope make the appointments," the diplomat said.
Since the founding of the PRC in 1949, China has been appointing bishops for its church, but some 4 million Chinese Catholics remain loyal to the Vatican and pray secretly in underground churches or "family churches."
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) were born under the sign of Gemini. Geminis are known for their intelligence, creativity, adaptability and flexibility. It is unlikely, then, that the trade conflict between the US and China would escalate into a catastrophic collision. It is more probable that both sides would seek a way to de-escalate, paving the way for a Trump-Xi summit that allows the global economy some breathing room. Practically speaking, China and the US have vulnerabilities, and a prolonged trade war would be damaging for both. In the US, the electoral system means that public opinion
They did it again. For the whole world to see: an image of a Taiwan flag crushed by an industrial press, and the horrifying warning that “it’s closer than you think.” All with the seal of authenticity that only a reputable international media outlet can give. The Economist turned what looks like a pastiche of a poster for a grim horror movie into a truth everyone can digest, accept, and use to support exactly the opinion China wants you to have: It is over and done, Taiwan is doomed. Four years after inaccurately naming Taiwan the most dangerous place on
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
RSS