Taiwan wanted to send its President Lai Ching-Te to Pope Francis funeral on Saturday, but after negotiations with the Vatican, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that a former vice-president would attend.
Analysts say that the Vatican could be concerned with the anger of China, which considers the Auto-String Taiwan within the framework of its territory.
The Vatican is one of the 12 countries to maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Taiwanese presidents attended the most recent papal inauguration in 2013 and the funeral in 2005.
Taiwan’s vice-minister of foreign affairs, Wu Chih-Chung, said on Tuesday that he hoped that Lai could attend the Pope’s funeral that would take place on Saturday. The Argentinian pontiff died Monday at 88 years old.
But Wednesday, Wu noted that the Vatican had his own considerations and that the ministry had subsequently published a statement saying that the former vice-president Chen Chien-Jen would rather attend the President’s envoy. Chen had met the pope six times.
Chang Meng-Jen, Head of the Italian Language Department of the Catholic University of Fu Jen in Taiwan, said that the decision for Lai not to attend the growing international influence of China and the reluctance of the Vatican to annoy Beijing,
“Since President Chen Shui-Bian could attend the funeral of (Pope) John Paul II, President Ma Ying-Jeou could attend the inauguration of Pope Francis, but now President Lai cannot go, it is perhaps because China’s diplomatic force and international influence are much more important than they were more than a decade,” he told RFA.
Karl Kung, who is a member of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem-a Catholic order of chivalry under the protection of the Holy See-told RFA that, when Chen attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005, it drew international attention and caused great dissatisfaction in Beijing. He said that this time, the Vatican was probably afraid of a backlash of China.
Chia-Lin Chang, professor in the Department of Diplomacy and International Relations at the University of Tamkang in Taiwan, said that it expected China to send the clergy to the funeral of Francis and would not send civil servants of the Council of State, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the leading Communist Party.
However, she expected that the Pope’s successor would continue to recognize the frame of the Vatican-Chine-Taiwan triangle and the Vatican-China agreement established by Francis.
In 2018, China and the Vatican signed an agreement on the appointment of the bishops under which China would offer bishop candidates, and the pope would select them. In 2022 and 2023, China appointed two bishops without the authorization of the Vatican, who accused China of raping the agreement, which was nevertheless renewed.
When the Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed its condolences on Tuesday on the death of the Pope, he said that “China is ready to make joint efforts with the Vatican to promote continuous improvement in Chinese-Vatican relations”.
Edited by Mat Pennington.