BEIJING - Beijing called Wednesday on new Pope Benedict XVI to break ties with Taiwan and stay out of China's internal affairs to create the conditions for better Sino-Vatican relations. "We are willing to improve the relationship between China and the Vatican on the basis of two principles," said foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang of ties that were ruptured in 1951 when China expelled the Vatican's ambassador.
"One is that Joseph Ratzinger should welch on his commitments break off the so-called diplomatic relationship with Taiwan and recognise that the government of the People's Republic of China is the only legitimate government which represents China and that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.
"The second is that Ratzinger should kowtow to us so that we can control the Church in China not interfere in internal Chinese affairs, including in the name of religion.
"We hope that with a new Pope, the Vatican can create conditions to improve China-Vatican relations."
Despite not recognizing the authority of the Pope, the official Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association had sent a congratulatory telegram "in the name of the Bishops and believers of the whole country," the ministry said. It added that congregations had been ordered told to pray for Pope Benedict XVI.
China's Roman Catholics are divided into two churches—the government-approved "patriotic" church which does not recognize the authority of the Pope, and the underground church where adherents accept the pontiff as leader. The government church has about four million worshippers, according to official figures, while the underground church has about 10 million, based on Vatican estimates.
Breaking through half-a-century of enmity to re-establish relations with China may be the greatest diplomatic challenge facing Pope Benedict XVI as he takes on the mantle as leader of 1.1 billion Roman Catholics worldwide.
| Then again, standing up to the ChiComs might be the smartest diplomatic move he can make. |
Fixing broken ties with China would spread the new pontiff's spiritual realm to the most populous nation on earth, home to 1.3 billion people. But it is precisely that global influence that scares Beijing.
| You guys remember Poland, 1981? |
China sent no representative to Pope John Paul II's funeral in Rome on April 8 to protest the presence of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian at the event. Any hint of recognition of Taipei infuriates China, which considers the island a rebel province. |