Newsletter: China Watch – Our flagship newsletter and research programme offering critical insights, business intelligence and in-depth reporting on China and Taiwan.
Volume 1; Issue No: 1
Cover Story: US Bans Chinese-Owned TikTok Over Election Influence Concerns
Leads
- Will Vatican City Sever Diplomatic Ties with China or Taiwan?
- Taiwan’s Defence Ministry Suspects a Possible Invasion
- Taiwan’s Labour Minister Apologises for Racist Comment Against Indian Foreign Workers
- Chinese Google Engineer Arrested for Stealing AI Technology
Will Vatican City Sever Diplomatic Ties with China or Taiwan?
Nauru broke diplomatic ties with Taipei immediately after the Presidential elections in Taiwan early this year and started an alliance with Beijing. As a result, Taiwan is left with only few allies including Vatican City which has sustained its ties with both Taiwan and China simultaneously without any trouble as such. Moreover, the Vatican is the only European country to be a diplomatic ally of Taipei. Only 12 out of 195 countries in the world are currently diplomatically allied with the Republic of China (ROC) under the terms of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Nauru’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Lionel Aingimea told China Central Television that ending diplomatic relations with Taipei would bring new opportunities for Nauru’s development.
Speculations are going on about whether Vatican City is going to break diplomatic ties with Taiwan as the Holy See has been interacting very frequently with mainland China. However, the Vatican has also recently sponsored conferences in Taiwan and Hong Kong to engage in an interfaith discussion between Catholicism, Taoism and Confucianism. It has been inferred that the diplomatic relation strategy of the Holy See is distinct from any other countries of the world as it is not concerned with neither political nor economic aspects of diplomacy. It rather looks forward to establish bilateral ties between various countries to safeguard its benefits and also implanting Catholic values into the domestic laws of various countries. Bishop-appointment is one of the main concerns of such bilateral agreements.
Both the Holy See and Taipei have their embassies in each other’s territory. Taipei’s embassy near Vatican City in Rome, Italy with the flag of ROC on the facade is very significant as it reminds the people from all around the world, including those in the streets of Rome, of its existence.
US Bans Chinese-Owned TikTok Over Presidential Election Influence Concerns
All the views and opinions expressed are those of the author. Image Credit – The Guardian.
About the Author
Arpita Chandra is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Rabindra Bharati University at Kolkata. She completed bachelors (honours) in English from Calcutta University. She is interested in politics, international relations, global affairs and social issues and covers the same for media outlets. Her interests also spans across literature, film and culture.
