Beijing sets conditions on Vatican ties

China’s 8 million to 12 million Catholics are split between a state-sanctioned church, and an “underground” one that rejects government control and answers only to Rome. China considers Taiwan sovereign territory. Beijing and the Vatican broke formal diplomatic relations shortly after the Chinese Communists took power in 1949.

They differ over who has the authority to appoint bishops but have been engaging in a secretive and cautious exploration of normalization. Du Qinglin, head of the United Front Work Department which deals with religious and ethnic minorities and non-Communists, said it was up to the Vatican to improve relations, the official Xinhua news agency said.

“The Vatican must not interfere in China’s internal politics, including using religion to interfere in our country’s domestic matters,” the report paraphrased Du as saying.

The Vatican must also sever its formal ties with Taiwan, which has been ruled separately from China since defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.

“Only on the basis of these two fundamental principles can both sides have constructive dialogue, overcome difficulties, narrow differences and make real progress towards improving relations,” Du said.

Pope Benedict has made improving relations with China a main goal of his pontificate and hopes diplomatic ties can be restored.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email