Analysis: As China-Vatican deal nears renewal, warming ties could shake Holy See’s decades-old alliance with Taiwan
Dr Reyes noted that the developments reflect the “significant progression” between both parties, even as both do not share formal relations.
Beijing severed diplomatic ties with the Holy See in 1951, after China’s Communist Party (CCP) took power and expelled foreign priests. The Vatican instead maintains official links with Taiwan – one of only a dozen states to do so.
Mr Yeo highlighted that Cardinal Chow, during his visit to the Vatican in May, extended an invitation to Pope Francis to visit Hong Kong. He views the gesture as significant, aimed at reinforcing the city’s role as a bridge between China and the global Catholic community.
Pope Paul VI is the only pontiff to have visited Hong Kong – he made a three-hour stopover in 1970 when it was a British colony, holding mass at Happy Valley racecourse.
“It was an informal invitation, but many eyebrows were raised because the Hong Kong cardinal would not have issued this invitation on his own, without clearance to China,” said Mr Yeo in an interview with CNA late last month.
MORE THAN MATTERS OF FAITH
China has shown a favourable stance toward improving relations with the Vatican, as this aligns with its broader strategic goals of enhancing its international reputation and countering negative portrayals from the West, according to analysts interviewed by CNA.
Dr Reyes from HKU pointed out how Beijing played host last September to Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, the pope’s special envoy for peace in Ukraine. The envoy also met with Mr Li Hui, China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, marking a “rare and noteworthy diplomatic gesture”.
“Beijing was notably gratified, one might even say chuffed by the Vatican sending a special emissary on Ukraine (to the country) … (as) this signifies the Holy See’s recognition of China’s potential role in facilitating peace in Ukraine,” he said.
Before his mission to Beijing, Cardinal Zuppi visited Kyiv and Moscow in June and Washington in July as part of the Holy See’s efforts to bring Ukraine and Russia to the negotiating table.
Since Russian forces swept into Ukraine in February 2022, China has refrained from condemning its ally Moscow, although it has called for a ceasefire and a political solution. This stance, however, has prompted Western accusations that Beijing is enabling Russia’s aggression.
In July, member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) met in Washington DC and issued a declaration labelling China a “decisive enabler” of the invasion. They called on Beijing to cease “all material and political support” for Moscow, including the supply of dual-use materials that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.
In response, China dismissed these claims as “groundless” and asserted that it has “always been a force for peace and stability.”
The Vatican’s decision to send a peace envoy to Beijing therefore serves as a counter-narrative to Western reproval, said Dr Reyes.
“It does show that the Vatican is trying to operate in a more pragmatic world. And by pragmatic, one could, by extension, think of it as a so-called multipolar world in which we live,” he added.
“The US does not seem to understand that the world has changed and that it’s no longer a US-dominant world, that it’s … now multi-civilisational, multilateral.
“I think it’s interesting to me that the Vatican, to some extent, has been operating that way (with China).”
Mr Yeo, Singapore’s foreign affairs minister from 2004 to 2011, asserts that China’s efforts to deepen ties with the Holy See are part of its broader strategy to better understand and engage with the West.
“European and Western history is incomprehensible without reference to the Catholic Church, (with the) involvement of bishops and the Vatican, both for good and for ill.
“I believe China’s political relations with the West will (also hinge) on its relationship with the Vatican.”
Dr Michel Chambon, research fellow with the religion and globalisation cluster at the Asia Research Institute, agrees that strengthening ties with the Vatican aligns with China’s ambition to assert itself as a global power.
“(China) cannot, for too long, treat the Catholic Church as just an enemy. It becomes very, very awkward when only (countries like) North Korea and Afghanistan have no diplomatic relationship (with the Vatican) and China too has no formal diplomatic ties with the Vatican. What does (that say) about China itself?”
