On his first official visit to Europe since his appointment as minister of foreign affairs, Eugene Chien (簡又新) yesterday called on a Holy See minister and is scheduled to meet his Vatican counterpart today, a foreign ministry press release said.
"Archbishop Cordes commended the contributions Taiwan has made to international humanitarian work and particularly mentioned its most recent donation of US$10,000 to the priests and refugees barricaded inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem," the statement said.
Chien met with Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes, president of the Pontifical Council, in Rome yesterday morning after arriving in Italy via China Airlines earlier the same day.
Cordes said the people of Taiwan are generous in helping the less fortunate and vowed to collaborate with the country for "the suffering populations elsewhere in the world," the statement said.
Today Chien is scheduled to call on Archbishop Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, before meeting Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the Holy See's foreign minister.
The Vatican is Taiwan's only European ally.
Remarks by the Pope last October on the Holy See's aspiration to establish channels of dialogue with China sparked speculation about the normalization of ties between the two entities.
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