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PEKING Frustration in China

Despite the apparent cordiality surrounding the recent visit of Jaime Cardinal Sin of Manila to the Chinese authorities, the Vatican has made no substantial progress in improving its relations with the People’s Republic. Such is the view of diplomatic observers in the Chinese capital. In his second visit here in three years, Cardinal Sin was received by Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang and said afterward that the Vatican’s recognition of Taiwan would “pose no problem” for the normalizing of relations between the Vatican and Peking. But the cardinal was immediately contradicted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which said the Pope would indeed have to break off his ties to Taiwan if he wished to improve his position with the PRC. A more important obstacle concerns what Peking sees as the Vatican’s effort to revive that part of the Chinese church which does not adhere to the “patriotic” (Peking-run) church. Religious agitation in general worries the Communist Chinese authorities, who have been busy suppressing yet another rebellion by the followers of the Dalai Lama in Tibet, and are seriously concerned about the effect of Islamic fundamentalism on their 55 million Muslim subjects.

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PEKING Frustration in China

Despite the apparent cordiality surrounding the recent visit of Jaime Cardinal Sin of Manila to the Chinese authorities, the Vatican has made no substantial progress in improving its relations with the People’s Republic. Such is the view of diplomatic observers in the Chinese capital. In his second visit here in three years, Cardinal Sin was received by Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang and said afterward that the Vatican’s recognition of Taiwan would “pose no problem” for the normalizing of relations between the Vatican and Peking. But the cardinal was immediately contradicted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which said the Pope would indeed have to break off his ties to Taiwan if he wished to improve his position with the PRC. A more important obstacle concerns what Peking sees as the Vatican’s effort to revive that part of the Chinese church which does not adhere to the “patriotic” (Peking-run) church. Religious agitation in general worries the Communist Chinese authorities, who have been busy suppressing yet another rebellion by the followers of the Dalai Lama in Tibet, and are seriously concerned about the effect of Islamic fundamentalism on their 55 million Muslim subjects.