Diplomatic relations between Taiwan and the Holy See are still solid, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, denying a media report that the Vatican might sever ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing by the end of the year.
“The report is untrue,” ministry spokeswoman Eleanor Wang (王珮玲) said.
“Our bilateral diplomatic relations are solid and the two countries maintain close exchanges,” Wang said.
Wang was responding to a Thursday report on the online news outlet Bowen Press, that said the Holy See might establish diplomatic relations with Beijing by the end of the year or after the presidential election in January.
Asked about the news report, the Holy See’s representative to Taiwan, Paul Russell, said in an e-mail that “the Apostolic Nunciature [the Vatican embassy] in Taiwan is going about its work as per usual.
The Holy See and Republic of China [ROC] are planning a joint cultural collaboration, which is to take place at the beginning of next year,” Russell said.
Since last year, there have been rumors that relations between Taiwan and the Holy See might be adversely affected by Pope Francis’ efforts to improve ties with China.
However, the government said that its diplomatic relations with the Holy See remain solid and Russell has described the ties as “excellent.”
The Holy See is the nation’s only diplomatic ally in Europe.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS