In an apparent sign that it was ramping up pressure on the Holy See, China yesterday made a rare public admission that it had held talks with the Vatican, sticking to its position that the Church had to ditch ties with Taiwan and not interfere in Chinese affairs.
"The Chinese side has had contact with the Vatican," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Jianchao (
He did not say where and when talks had taken place, nor at what level or between whom.
"We hope the Vatican can show some sincerity, solve the two important issues China cares about and create conditions for normalizing and improving China-Vatican relations," he said.
China said on Wednesday it had learned the Vatican was prepared to sever all relations with Taiwan in order to forge long-suspended diplomatic ties with Beijing, but called for "real action" from the Holy See.
Ye Xiaowen (葉小文), director of China's State Administration of Religious Affairs, said after talks with the Vatican's envoy in Washington that Pope Benedict XVI was also prepared to discuss Beijing's insistence that the administration of the Catholic Church in China is an internal matter.
Beijing has imposed two conditions -- recognition of the "one China" policy that precludes independence for Taiwan, and of religious affairs as an internal Chinese matter -- for any diplomatic ties with the Vatican.
"First the pope must recognize that the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole representative government of both Chinas, and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory," Ye told reporters.
"We have known from various channels that Vatican has indicated that this is not a difficult issue and of course we are looking forward to seeing real actions from the Vatican," he said.
On the second demand that Chinese Catholicism "must follow the principles of independence," he said the Vatican had said that "this point can be discussed," and added that the two sides had channels for holding talks on it.
"As long as the two sides hold a sincere attitude and as long as the two-point principles that I mentioned just now are observed, then there is no insurmountable obstacles to the improvement of relations between the two sides," he said.
Ye met with the Vatican's ambassador to the US Pietro Sambi while attending a meeting at Georgetown University in Washington on Tuesday.
He refused to divulge details of the discussions with Sambi, saying both the Vatican and Beijing had an understanding that "no sides should unilaterally reveal content of the discussions."
The Holy See has long been at odds with China's communist-run church over the appointment of bishops, but in recent months Beijing has appeared willing to appoint church leaders that have the blessing of the pope.
The situation has evolved since the Vatican has worked to re-establish its relations with China, where Catholicism has boomed in recent decades.
In a letter to the Chinese faithful in June last year, the pope called for unity in an overture widely seen as a call to restart normalization talks.
In Taiwan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (
"The diplomatic relations between Taiwan and the Vatican are stable and smooth," Yeh told the Taipei Times. "Our embassy at the Vatican is maintaining unhindered and honest communication with the [Holy See] government."
Yeh described Ye's announcement as "an untrue unilateral statement."
She said that while Ye reaffirmed the two conditions that China has always held, "the Holy See still insists on the freedom to spread the Gospel, and the right to appoint bishops -- the same problem therefore still exists."
"One side focuses on politics while the other is concerned with religion," Yeh said. "I'm afraid the issue is unlikely to be resolved soon."
Additional reporting by Loa Iok-sin
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