4. The Holy See and the Cross-Strait Conundrum
4.3. The Holy See and “the Two-China” Dilemma
4.3.3. Taiwan’s Concern by the Vatican’s Rapprochement Attempts with China
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79 The ROC government sent an official invitation to Pope John Paul II to come to
Taiwan. In 2002, Vice President Annette Lu, on her trip to Europe for the 51st congress of Liberal International held in Budapest, also went to the Vatican and invited Pope John Paul II to visit Taiwan. Many invitations of Taiwan to the Holy Father have not yet been honored by a positive response because of the risk of upsetting Mainland China. The Holy See certainly doesn’t want to create an incident in the cross-Strait and upset China.
Beijing’s sensitivity to this issue can perhaps be illustrated by the fact that it refused to permit any Chinese Delegates to attend Pope John Paul II’s funeral in 2005 because the Vatican accepted Taiwan’s then-President Chen Shui-bian to attend the funeral.In December 2008, Pope Benedict turned down the invitation from the Archbishop of the Taipei Archdiocese to visit Taiwan and join in the 2009 celebration of the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Catholic Church in Taiwan, sending a representative instead.197 While continuing to maintain state-to-state relations with the ROC government and strong Church-to-Church relations, the Vatican has to remain extremely prudent because of the potential negative impact with the relations with Mainland China. It seems that the Holy See prefers not to make any gestures that could be interpreted as “hostile” by either of the two sides.
4.3.3. Taiwan’s Concern by the Vatican’s Rapprochement Attempts with China A few days before the PRC was admitted to the United Nations on October 25, 1971, the Holy See recalled its proNuncio Archbishop Edward Cassidy to Rome.
Consequently, in December 1971, Archbishop Lo Kuang of Taipei went to Rome to
197Luehrmann, L. (2009, July/September),op.cit.., p. 497
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80 talk with the Secretary of State, Cardinal Cassaroli, about the position of Rome
toward the ROC after it was expelled from the United Nations. Archbishop Lo Kuang also met the Holy Father who told him that the Holy See would keep relations with the ROC Ten months later, on August 2, 1972, the Holy See sent Msgr.
Francis Colasuanno, a chargé d’affaires, a.i, to the ApostolicNunciature in Taipei198.
The Nationalist government in Taipei was very nervous about the developments in the Vatican and its relations with the PRC It was reported that on March 3, 1981, immediately after the Pope’s speech in Manila, the Ambassador of the ROC to the Vatican, Mr. Zhou Shou-kai, spoke with the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Rossi, at the Vatican for more than thirty minutes on common questions relating to the two states. The meeting was requested by the Ambassador of the RO.C. Then on March 4, 1981, the Foreign Ministry of Taiwan summoned Monsignor Giglio, the chargé d’Affaires, a.i., in Taipei ApostolicNunciature, and requested him to explain once more the relations between Taiwan and the Holy See. The Taiwan government openly admitted that they were closely watching the developments in the relations between the Vatican and Mainland China. In these circumstances the best course the Taiwan government would take was to ally itself with the local Catholic Church for mutual support.199
At that time, the Church in Taiwan consisted of 300,000 Catholics in seven dioceses, most of the Catholics being migrants from the Mainland in 1949, and almost all the Taiwan bishops having been born on the Mainland. The Taiwan Catholic Church did not share the same views on the Sino-Taiwan relationship as its
198陳方中、江國雄, Chen, F., & Chiang, G. (2003), op. cit., p. 338-341
199 Leung, B. (1992), op. cit., p. 234.
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81 government. The Pope’s proposal for rapprochement with Mainland China met with
no opposition or nervousness, because the Taiwan Catholics understood that the motivation behind the Vatican’s gesture was pastoral, for the sake of Catholics in China. They saw that the attempt made by the Pope to open dialogue with the PRC was for the sake of the Church on the Mainland, and that the downgrading of relations with the Taiwan Church was to release pressure by the government on Catholics on the Mainland.200 In fact, the Hierarchy of the Taiwan Church is not directly concerned with relations between the ROC and the Holy See. The Church of Taiwan is connected to the Pope by spiritual relations and not by diplomatic relations. The Pope has always kept the same relations with the Church in Taiwan even though the Holy See downgraded its relations with Taiwan. Through the years, the Taiwan Church remained faithful to the Pope, who asked her in 1984 to play the role of BridgeChurch. The situation of the leaders of the Catholic Church in Taiwan was not so easy and comfortable because of the policy of the government of Taiwan, which requested no contact of its people with the Mainland. The Taiwan Catholic Church as well as the Taiwan government felt very uneasy when suggestions were made to the Vatican to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan in order to initiate contact with China. The Vatican would therefore have to close the PapalNunciature in Taiwan, while the Taiwanese Chinese ambassador to the Holy See would have to be recalled, and be replaced by a special PapalDelegate of non-diplomatic nature in Taipei. Under pressure from the Taiwan government, the Catholic Church in Taiwan tried to lobby the Vatican officials not to sacrifice the Church of Taiwan for the sake of the Church on the Mainland. As a consequence, the Vice-Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Lourdusamy, was invited to visit Taiwan for the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Matteo
200Leung, B. (1992), op. cit., p. 234.
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82 Ricci in China in 1983. Then the President of the Pontifical Council of Justice and
Peace, Cardinal Gantin, was asked to visit Taiwan on February 17, 1984 so that the Taiwan Bishops could voice their discontent about the possible move of the Vatican towards the PRC This provided an occasion for them to express their anxiety at being betrayed if the normalization of Vatican-China relations were to be made at their expense. They hoped Cardinal Gantin would be sympathetic towards them and view the severing of diplomatic rites from their standpoint of justice and peace.201
Eventually all seven members of the Taiwan Chinese Bishop’s Conference headed by its President, Archbishop Lo Kuang, were able to go to the Vatican on February 1984 to have a “dialogue” with the Pope and the high-ranking Vatican officials, including the Under-Secretary of State, Martinez Solmalo, and the Foreign Minister, Cardinal A. Silvestrini. In several sessions, they had long discussions with the Vatican officials and with the Pope on their disagreement of the Vatican’s policy towards Mainland China. They challenged the views of the Vatican on the possible severing of diplomatic ties with Taiwan and remarked that this would be a great blow to the morale of Taiwan Catholics. Their fear of being victimized by the Vatican in its wooing of Mainland China was also explained. They requested to be kept directly informed of the Vatican’s future moves towards Mainland China. In this encounter and dialogue, which was loaded with tension, the Vatican was able to skillfully reassure these seven anguished bishops, backed up by their own government that the normalization of Sino-Vatican relations would not be at their expense. The Vatican promised them that in the future if there were to be any move towards the PRC or the Catholic Church in China, the Taiwan Chinese Bishop’s
201Ibid. , pp. 235- 236.
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83 Conference would be the first to be told.202
On the diplomatic front, the Vatican has obviously been making overtures to the Chinese Government by lowering its level of diplomatic representation in Taiwan.
Any further lowering of status would mean either vacating the chargé d’affaires or breaking off diplomatic relations, and maintaining only religious ties by posting a non-diplomatic ApostolicDelegate to Taipei. Whether the Vatican is willing to take such a drastic step or not will depend very much on the concessions made by Beijing on other issues, such as the self-appointment of bishops and the recognition of the Pope as the head of the universal Church.203 On February 11, 1999, while responding to questions from journalists in Rome, Cardinal Sodano, Secretary of State of the Holy See, commented that the Vatican was ready to transfer its Nunciature from Taipei to Beijing “not tomorrow, but this very night, if Chinese authorities were to permit it”.204 These words led to extreme interpretations in many quarters. Both Beijing and Taipei denied having any knowledge of the implied Vatican move. Beijing also reiterated its two known pre-conditions for any rapprochement between the two sides. Two weeks later, it was reported by the Free China Journal, that Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, of the Vatican Secretariat for Relations with States, had assured Taiwan Foreign Minister, Jason Hu Chih-chiang, that “the Holy See will not sacrifice Taiwan’s interest simply to accommodate requests from China”.205 In fact, by the statement of Cardinal Sodano, the Holy See
202Leung, B. (1992), op. cit., p. 236.
203Chan, G. (1989, December). Sino-Vatican Diplomatic Relations: Problems and Prospects. China Quarterly, 120, p. 828.
204 And he added: “The Taipei Nunciature is already the Chinese Nunciature. First it was in Beijing, then in Nanking, where the Nuncio was repressed and constrained to transfer to Hong Kong and then to Taiwan. Moving it back to Beijing won´t be a breaking of relations with Taiwan but a returning of the Nunciature to its initial location.”
205Charbonnier, J., & Politi, G. (2006). China-Vatican relations: 1978-2005. In The Catholic Church in China: today and tomorrow. Leuven: Ferdinand Verbiest Institut, p. 147.
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84 was trying to initiate immediate talks with Beijing on all Church matters regardless
of the existing political system. Cardinal Sodano´s remarks were a sign of openness and expressed a desire to initiate a discussion with the PRC He wanted to urge religious freedom on Mainland China. Indeed before any move of the Holy See, it is clear that the question of religious freedom, human rights and the appointment of bishop on Mainland China must be clarified. Dr. Tou Chou-seng, former ROC ambassador to the Holy See, once said: “China uses Taiwan as a pretext, while the real problem is that of religious freedom”.206 However, Taiwan was very concerned about this and the ROC Ministry of Foreign Affairs contacted its embassy to the Holy See in order to obtain a detailed clarification of this matter. It then published a press release on the peaceful and stable relations with the Vatican:
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would first like to point out that an official media spokesperson of the Vatican on Dec. 15 of this year publicly and clearly affirmed that the state of affairs has not changed since August of this year, when the Vatican issued a statement declaring that it had had no concrete communication with Mainland Chinese authorities. In addition, Vatican authorities have on a number of occasions emphasized to the ROC embassy in the Holy See that the Vatican has not had concrete contact with Mainland China, and that so-called normalization of relations is not in progress.207
In the China Times of Taipei, on June 3, 1999, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, stated that:
206Eunice, K. Y. (2005, May 19). Taiwan Remains a Question as Vatican-China Relations Progress.
Christian Today. Retrieved January 12, 2012, from
http://www.christiantoday.co.uk/article/taiwan.remains.a.question.as.vatican.china.relations.progress.
/2922.htm
207RepublicofChina – Government EntryPoint.(1999). Government stance on reported PRC-Vatican contact. Retrieved February 8, 2012, from Government Entry Point:
http://www.taiwan.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=11107&ctNode=1933&mp=999
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85 For the Holy See, the first aim of diplomatic relations, with China as with
other countries, is that of fostering the life of the Church and of promoting peace in the international context through dialogue. With Taiwan our relations are marked by mutual respect: thanks to the guarantee of the principle of religious freedom, the Catholic community has not encountered difficulties, and it has, moreover, contributed efficaciously to the material and spiritual good of the country.208
Nevertheless, the same Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran also told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera “''We are aware that in order to normalize our relations with Beijing, we will have to modify the form with Taipei”. He added: “We are willing to negotiate”.209
In 2002, on her way to Hungary, the ROC vice president, Annette Lu, spent a short time at the Vatican and met with Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran. The two officials exchanged views on religious freedom and human rights. Annette Lu told Archbishop Tauran that Taiwan shares the Vatican's concern for the followers of Catholicism on the Mainland. “But it would violate the spirit of this religion if the Holy See breaks off relations with the ROC because of such concerns”, Lu said, suggesting that Taiwan's own Catholics are no less important. She suggested a parallel approach that would allow the Vatican to improve relations with the Mainland while, at the same time, enhance cooperation with Taiwan.210
However, it is clear that the Holy See wants to establish relations with the
208Tai, R. (2002). The Vatican's Dilemma: Taipei and/or Beijing? In A Collection of Documents on the History of the 60 Years of Sino-Vatican Diplomatic Relations. Taipei, Taiwan, ROC: Institute of Catholic History, Fujen Catholic University,pp. 610- 611.
209Stanley, A. (1999, March 23). Vatican to Review Taiwan Ties.The New-York Times. Retrieved 12 12, 2011, from http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/23/world/vatican-to-review-taiwan-ties.html
210Lu, M. (2002, March 29). Successful end to Annette Lu's visit to Europe.Taiwan Today. Retrieved January 18, 2012, from http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=19279&CtNode=103
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86 Mainland. Indeed, because of the vocation of the Church to spread the Gospel and to
serve all human beings, the Pope cannot ignore Mainland China. In Hong Kong, The Sunday Examiner of April 16th 2005 quoted Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun: “The Holy See is thinking of giving up Taiwan. This is a difficult decision, but it has decided to do it. If the Holy See does not establish ties with China, Catholics there will not have real freedom”.211 In October 2005, Cardinal Sodano said again that the Holy See would soon switch ties to Beijing. The Director General of the ROC Department of European Affairs, Larry Wang, currently ROC ambassador to the Holy See, said that Sodano's statement-- that the Vatican was ready to move its Nuncio, or ambassador, from Taiwan to Beijing immediately -- matched exactly the remarks he made in 1999 in an attempt to urge greater religious freedom in China. He said that Cardinal Sodano made the remarks in response to a question from a reporter. It's a passive response, not a deliberate signal. The Vatican had broken off official communications with Beijing in 2000 and it had been difficultto resume official contact. Therefore, Larry Wang said that:
Perhaps it's because of the lack of an official communication channel that Cardinal Sodano chose to make such remarks again”.212
The price to pay by Taiwan to let the Holy See go to Beijing to serve the Chinese on the Mainland seems to be very heavy. As matter of fact, in 2005, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it understands the difficulties the Vatican faces when trying to expand ties with China and protect religious freedom, but stressed
211Goff, P. (2005, Avril 10). Vatican will abandon Taiwan to win China's Catholics. The Telegraph.
Retrieved November 12, 2011, from
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/1487535/Vatican-will-abandon-Taiwan-to-wi n-Chinas-Catholics.html
212Chang, Y.-p. (2005, November 10). Vatican remarks nothing new: MOFA. Taipei Times.
Retrieved December 11, 2011, from
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2005/11/10/2003279525
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87 that Taiwan must be treated with dignity and respect throughout the process.213
However, the Holy See will not so easily abandon Taiwan at any price. In November 2005, Cardinal Tauran said about the relations with China that:
The Vatican would not abandon Taiwan even if it opens an embassy in China.(…) The Holy See would find an “appropriate way” to maintain ties with Taiwan. When religious freedom is realized in China, then the Holy See is ready to change the nature of relations with Taiwan. If and when the normalization [of relations with China] happens, the Holy See will not abandon Taiwan.214
Cardinal Tauran underlined a very important point about religious freedom in China. According to the moral teachings of the Church: “The end does not justify the means”. It is obvious that the Vatican will not sacrifice its moral principles on religious freedom and human dignity in order to have diplomatic ties with China. As long as China will not show a clear sign of adopting and applying religious freedom in its policy, the Holy See won’t go further in its relations with the Mainland.
The Holy See is currently the only European State to officially recognize the ROC government but the most influential of the states to have formal diplomatic ties with Taipei. If the Holy See withdrew its recognition of the Taipei government and removed its ApostolicNunciature from Taiwan this would strike a serious blow to Taipei, diplomatically. In a 2005 interview with John Allen, a Vatican correspondent of the National Catholic Reporter, Dr Tou Chou-Seng said that:
The Holy See is the only European Nation with which we still have relations.
213Chang, Y.-p. (2005, November 24). MOFA urges the Vatican to be fair .Taipei Times. Retrieved October 21, 2011, from http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2005/11/24/2003281473
214Staffwriters withagencies. (2005, November 23). Taiwan Quick Take.Taipei Times. Retrieved December 3, 2011, from http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2005/11/23/2003281360
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88 We’re encountering huge difficulties in the international community, and the
Vatican is very important to us. If the Vatican were to drop Taipei for Beijing, we would feel like we’ve lost our friends.215
The fact is the Holy See has to adopt a balanced cross-Strait policy in order not to make a choice between Taipei and Beijing, in conformity with the teachings of the Church: justice and peace. Above all, China must make a considerable effort on religious freedom for the Holy See to move its Nunciature from Taipei to Beijing. In the same interview, Dr. Tou said that:
There will be no change in relations between the Vatican and Mainland China in the foreseeable future, because China is unlikely to make even minimal concessions on religious freedom. Once the people of Mainland
There will be no change in relations between the Vatican and Mainland China in the foreseeable future, because China is unlikely to make even minimal concessions on religious freedom. Once the people of Mainland