Pope Benedict XVI met with visiting Master Hsing Yun (
During the meeting, Benedict XVI expressed his best regards for the Taiwanese and said he would pray for them. The pope also said that he would visit Taiwan if the chance arose.
Hsing Yun arrived in Rome on Tuesday.
In the company of Taiwanese Ambassador to the Vatican Tu Chou-sheng (杜筑生), the Buddhist master extended his respects to the pope on behalf of Taiwan's Buddhists and invited the leader of the Roman Catholic world to visit Taiwan.
Referring to himself as a "pilgrim," Hsing Yun said he hoped the visit would help to boost mutual understanding and cooperation between Buddhists and Catholics.
In a separate gathering with a group of overseas Chinese, Hsing Yun predicted that some day, when China becomes a rich country, it may "eat up Taiwan."
Taiwan has cringed at the idea of unifying with China because of its perceived poverty, he said.
"Now China is becoming richer and richer, and some day in the future it would not be incredible that it might eat up Taiwan as the ideas of inequality, such as rich and poor and big and small, are involved here," Hsing Yun said.
Sharing his experience in putting one's mind at ease, Hsing Yun said there were several ways of doing so, but that such fundamental principles as love, tolerance, cherishing what one has and making friends with all would always be important, no matter what approach one took to "finding a home for one's mind."
He said that a sense of equality was important because only by treating all living beings and all systems of belief equally would peace and harmony prevail in the world.
For that same reason, he said he would advise Taiwanese not to look down on their poorer neighbors in China, who may in the future grow rich enough to "bring Taiwan into its fold."
Hsing Yun founded the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Monastery in 1967 in southern Taiwan, which has since then evolved to become the largest Buddhist monastery in the country.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS