TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan President Lai Ching-te has sent his congratulations to Pope Leo on his appointment, saying Taiwan hopes to continue working with the Vatican to pursue peace, justice and religious freedom, the island’s foreign ministry said on Friday.
The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, though Lai did not attend Pope Francis’ funeral last month, sending instead former vice president Chen Chien-jen, a devout Catholic.
Francis had led a wide-ranging outreach to officially atheist China, including signing a deal on the appointment of Catholic bishops in that country, worrying Taiwan.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Lai had sent his congratulatory message via its embassy to the Vatican.
Lai “stressed that Taiwan looks forward to continuing to work with the Holy See to jointly pursue peace, justice, religious freedom, solidarity, fraternity, and human dignity”, the statement said.
“Taiwan will continue to promote various exchanges and co-operation with the Holy See, to further strengthen bilateral relations, and to make more contributions to the world together with the Holy See,” said the ministry statement.
The ministry did not say whether Lai might attend Leo’s inauguration. In 2013, then-president Ma Ying-jeou went to Francis’ inauguration.
China has yet to comment on the U.S.-born Leo’s appointment.
Taiwan’s embassy to the Vatican on Friday posted a picture of its outgoing ambassador, Matthew Lee, shaking hands with Leo at a Vatican event in 2023.
Lee told Taiwan’s official Central News Agency that when he told Leo, whose real name is Robert Prevost, that he was from Taiwan, Leo’s response was that he was able to distinguish the difference between “democratic Taiwan and communist China”.
China says Taiwan is one of its provinces with no right to state-to-state ties, a position the government in Taipei strongly rejects.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Michael Perry)
Comments