Taiwan official to visit Vatican

Island has no right to have diplomatic ties: Beijing

Taiwan’s “vice president” will visit the Vatican next month, its sole diplomatic ally in Europe, on a trip that could anger Beijing as the Holy See looks for rapprochement with the Chinese mainland.

Chen Chien- jen will be the special envoy for Taiwan “President” Tsai Ing- wen, whom the Vatican invited for a September 4 ceremony to declare Mother Teresa a saint, the Taiwan administration said on Wednesday

Tsai leads the independence- leaning ruling Democratic Progressive Party ( DPP) in Taiwan. Chen is part of the DPP- led government but is not a party member.

The Vatican is the only European jurisdiction to maintain diplomatic relations with Taipei and not Beijing.

The Vatican is one of Taiwan’s remaining 22 allies, most of which are small, poor countries. The Chinese mainland says that since Taiwan is one of its provinces, the island has no right to have diplomatic relations with anyone.

The visit comes as Pope Francis is leading a push to fundamentally alter the relationship between the Vatican and Beijing, which for decades has been infused with mutual suspicion and acrimony.

For the Vatican, a thaw in relations with Beijing may also ultimately pave the way for diplomatic relations, giving the Church full access . to the world’s most populous nation.

Officials in Taipei played down the possibility of the mainland taking away another ally after it this year established ties with Gambia, a former ally of Taiwan.

The diplomatic friendship between Taiwan and the Vatican has always been very solid, “Deputy Foreign Minister” Wu Chih- chung told reporters, adding that “We have shared values with the Holy See, such as religious freedom and human rights.”

Taiwan does not oppose exchanges between the Vatican and the Chinese mainland because it is the job of the Holy See to promote the Catholic faith, Wu said.

The last time a Taiwan leader visited the Vatican was in 2005, when former Taiwan leader Chen Shuibian attended the funeral of the late Pope John Paul II. Beijing filed a protest with Italy for issuing Chen a visa, media reports said.

In early May, Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said in an interview with Italian magazine San Francesco that China and the Vatican “are in a positive phase,” and that there are signs that the two parties have the will to pursue a dialogue and to find solutions to the problem of the presence of the Catholic Church in China.