James Patrick Green is to replace Adolfo Tito Yllana to become the Vatican's charge d'affaires ad interim to Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) is to grant Adolfo Tito Yllana an award on Monday on behalf of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to mark his contributions to improving Taiwan-Vatican ties, a foreign ministry press release said.
"During Monday's ceremony, the minister will honor the outgoing Adolfo Tito Yllana while welcoming the incoming James Green," said David Lin (林永樂), director general of the ministry's department of European affairs, in a press conference yesterday morning.
James Green, 52, the new head of the Apostolic Nunciature in Taipei, formerly served as a counselor at the Holy See's embassy in Denmark. An American citizen, Green speaks English, French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch, according to a foreign ministry press release.
Adolfo Tito Yllana is scheduled to leave Taiwan on Jan. 23 after serving as the Holy See's de facto ambassador to Taiwan over the past two years and four months, the press release said.
He was promoted to the position of archbishop on Jan. 6, and assigned the post of Vatican ambassador to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, the statement said.
The Vatican has been Taiwan's sole European ally since Macedonia severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan last year. Remarks by the Pope last October on the Holy See's hopes of establishing channels for dialogue between the Holy See and China sparked speculation about the possibility of normalization of ties between the two sides.
But Taiwan's foreign ministry has stressed that ties between Taiwan and the Holy See have remained "firm," adding that China and the Vatican have been poles apart on the issue of religious freedom, an apparent impediment to the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two sides.
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