Taiwan president’s planned visit Vatican to trigger China outrage

Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou plans to attend the inaugural Mass of the newly elected Pope in the Vatican, officials say, in a move that will likely provoke outrage from China.

“After the new Pope was elected, the foreign ministry initiated a plan for the president to visit the Vatican,” Taiwan’s Vice Foreign Minister Vanessa Shih said on Friday.

“This is in line with the diplomatic status of the two sides,” she added.

The Taiwanese president congratulated Pope Francis shortly after he was elected as the new pontiff, saying Taiwan was “honored to be a partner in peace” with the Vatican.

The Vatican is the only European nation that maintains diplomatic relationships with Taiwan instead of China, which considers Taiwan as its breakaway province.

China cut ties with the Vatican in 1951 and set up its own Catholic Church, appointing bishops without papal approval.

On Thursday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying called on the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis I, to adopt a “practical and flexible” attitude in order to improve China-Vatican relations.

Hua said Beijing wanted the Vatican to “sever its so-called diplomatic relations with Taiwan and recognize the Chinese government as the sole legal representative of all of China.”

In 2005, then Taiwan’s President Chen Shui-bian visited the Vatican for the funeral of the late Pope John Paul II. The visit, however, led the angered Beijing to file a protest to Italy for issuing a visa to Chen.

On March 13, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was named the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church, taking the nickname of Pope Francis I.

Pope Francis replaced Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned on February 28, becoming the first pontiff in six centuries to do so. He stated that the reason for his decision was his deteriorating health due to old age.