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HolySee-China-Taiwan:ACross-StraitTriangle
9
attheUN,thepositionofthePontificalrepresentativeinTaiwanwasdowngraded
fromPronuncio(ambassador)toChargéd’Affaires8andhasremainedsosincethen.
ThepoliticalstatusoftheROCisacontentiousissue.ThePRCclaimsthattheROC
governmentisillegitimate,callsitthe‘TaiwanAuthority’,
9
andconsidersTaiwan
arenegadeprovincewhichdiplomatically‘hasnofuture’.
10
BoththePRCandtheROC
(thelatteratleastformally)claimtobethesolelegitimategovernmentofChina.11
ThePRCgovernmentisadamantthatanyefforttoformallyabolishtheROCand
replaceitwithanexplicitlyTaiwanesestatewouldresultinastrongandpossiblymilitary
reaction.
12
Signally,Beijingrequiresallcountrieshavingorseekingdiplomaticrelations
withittoadheretotheprinciplethatthereisjust‘oneChina’includingTaiwanand
thatthePRCgovernmentisthesolelegitimategovernmentofChinaand,thus,togive
norecognitiontotheROC.13ThisappliestotheHolySeeaswell.OneofBeijing’s
twoconditionsfortheestablishmentofformalrelationsisthattheApostolicPalace
adherestotheOne-ChinaprincipleandseversitsdiplomatictieswithTaipei.14
NormalizationofrelationsbetweentheHolySeeandthePRCmightthencome
attheexpenseoftheapproximately300,000CatholicsinTaiwan(1.3percentofthe
population),wheretheChurchcanoperatefreely.15Aftersuccessfullytransitioning
fromauthoritarianismtodemocraticsysteminthe1990s,Taiwanisnowaconsolidated
democracywhere‘theconstitutionandotherlawsandpoliciesprotectreligiousfreedom
and,inpractice,theauthoritiesgenerallyrespectreligiousfreedom.’16QuotingPope
BenedictXVI’saddresstotheROCambassadortotheHolySee:‘YourGovernment’s
firmcommitmenttofreedomofreligionhasmadeitpossiblefortheChurchtocarry
8
H.Chiu,‘TheInternationalLegalStatusofTaiwan’,inJ.M.Henckaerts(ed.),TheInternational
StatusofTaiwanintheNewWorldOrder:LegalAndPoliticalConsiderations,TheHague,Londonand
Boston:MartinusNijhoffPublishers,1996,p.6.
9
TaiwanAffairsOfficeoftheStateCouncilPRC,‘Chinareaffirmsfirmoppositionto“Taiwan
independence”’,SpokespersonRemarks,12March2017,http://www.gwytb.gov.cn/en/CrossstraitInter
actionsandExchanges/201608/t20160823_11546647.htm(accessedon8October2019).
10
B.Blanchard,‘ChinasaysTaiwanhas“nofuture”diplomatically’,Reuters,8March2017,http://
www.reuters.com/article/us-china-parliament-taiwan-idUSKBN16F0IF(accessedon8October2019).
11
E.Albert,‘China-TaiwanRelations’,CouncilofForeignRelationsBackgrounders,7December2016,
http://www.cfr.org/china/china-taiwan-relations/p9223(accessedon8October2019).
12
H.Yang,‘China’s3Optionsfor“Unifying”Taiwan’,TheDiplomat,15April2016,http://thediplomat.
com/2016/04/chinas-3-options-for-unifying-taiwan/(accessedon8October2019).
13
Anonymous,‘Whatisthe“OneChina”policy?’,10February2017,BBCNews,http://www.bbc.com/
news/world-asia-china-38285354(accessedon8October2019).
14
L.Jucca,BenjaminKangLimandGregTorode,‘Afterdecadesofmistrust,Popepushesfordiplomatic
breakthroughwithChina’,Reuters,14July2016,http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/china-
vatican/(accessedon9October2019).
15
I.M.SalaandI.Steger,‘SomeCatholicsaredeeplydisturbedthattheVaticaniscozyinguptoChina’s
repressiveregime’,Quartz,25August2016,https://qz.com/766171/as-the-vatican-moves-to-embrace-china-
even-pope-francis-loyalists-are-concerned/(accessedon9October2019).
16
AmericanInstituteinTaiwan,‘Taiwan2013InternationalReligiousFreedomReport’,AITReport
OT-1407E,29July2014,https://kaohsiung.ait.org.tw/official-texts-ot1407.html(accessedon9October
2019).
