Taiwan president to attend Pope’s inauguration despite China’s objection
Posted March 15, 2013 6:36 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou is set to head a five-person delegation to attend Pope Francis’s inauguration ceremony on March 19, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
Ma is set to head to the Vatican despite China saying on Thursday that the Vatican must take the initiative and end diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
China severed diplomatic relations with the Vatican shortly after the Communists took power in 1949 and has since demanded that it cut ties with self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province.
Vice Foreign Minister Vanessa Shih said Taiwan and the Vatican were close allies.
“The two countries share many universal values, such as freedom, democracy, especially freedom of religion, justice, and universal love. We have common beliefs and values, and therefore we have a close friendship,” she said.
Representing the Taiwan delegation will be Ma and his wife Christine Chow Ma, Vice Foreign Minister Vanessa Shih, National Security Council Secretary-General Jason Yuan, and Fu Jen Catholic University Principal Dr. Vincent Han-Sun Chiang.
“The Holy See is our diplomatic ally, and the president, as the head of a diplomatic ally, is leading a delegation to attend another diplomatic ally’s inauguration of the new pope. It is in accordance with the current diplomatic situation and friendship between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the Vatican, and this is a normal international courtesy and interaction between two diplomatic allies,” she said.
Shih added that Taiwan did not communicate with China about the decision to attend the inauguration.
Former Pope Benedict, the first pontiff in hundreds of years to step down, had encouraged reconciliation between the two sides of the divided Chinese church and engaged in a low-key dialogue with Beijing about political ties.
China’s constitution enshrines freedom of religion, but stability-obsessed leaders in the officially atheist government are wary of the appeal of a higher moral power.
