Beijing suspected of putting pressure on Vatican to cut ties with Taipei. Next week, 135 cardinals will gather inside the Vatican for the conclave, a secretive meeting to decide who will succeed the late Pope Francis. Around the world, people are speculating: who will the next pontiff be? But in Taiwan, a more common discussion has been: who are we sending to the inauguration?
The former vice-president Chen Chien-jen recently returned from Vatican City, where he represented Taiwan at Francis’s funeral. But the committed Catholic hopes he won’t be asked to repeat the journey to welcome in the successor. Instead, he is pushing for it to be Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te.
“We prayed for the possibility for Dr Lai to attend the inauguration of the new pope,” he told the Guardian in Taipei.
The reason Lai didn’t attend the funeral hasn’t been confirmed, but there are plenty of educated guesses going around, and they all involve Beijing. The Vatican is one of just 12 governments that recognise Taiwan as a country, and the only one in Europe. Serving presidents attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II and the first mass of Pope Francis. But in the years since, the geopolitics of Taiwan’s place in the world has become more difficult.
China’s ruling Communist party claims Taiwan is a province and has vowed to annex it, militarily if need be. In the meantime it is using its considerable global influence to keep Taiwan’s government – which it labels “separatist” – away from the international stage, and has persuaded many of Taiwan’s allies to cut ties and recognise Beijing instead. Which is exactly what many observers think was going on with the Vatican for the funeral.
After the death of Francis was announced, Taiwan was quick to offer condolences. Its deputy foreign minister, Wu Chih-chung, publicly said it was the island’s “most important aim” to have its president lead the funeral delegation. But just hours later Chen, who had met Francis six times before he died and was a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, was announced as “the best choice under the current circumstances” after discussions with the Vatican.
Speculation swirled that the Vatican had refused Lai’s attendance – or at least requested he not be sent – under pressure from China. Taipei, Beijing and the Vatican would not comment.
