Will The Vatican Abandon Taiwan?

Two days before the Pope's death, Cardinal Godfried Daneels was ushered into the tightly guarded compound next to the Forbidden City, which houses China's top leaders.

The meeting in the Zhongnanhai compound last Thursday between the Belgian cardinal and Hui Liangyu, a Chinese vice-premier, was one of the highest-level face-to-face meetings on Chinese soil between a prominent Catholic churchman and Beijing in decades.

Relations have been effectively frozen since 1951, when Beijing expelled foreign priests. Since then, attempts to restore ties have foundered on two issues - Beijing's anger at the Holy See's diplomatic recognition of Taiwan and the Vatican's demand that it retain control over bishops, anathema in a system that genuflects to a higher authority, the Communist party.

Cardinal Daneels cut short his China trip once the Pope's condition began to deteriorate but his presence in Beijing is evidence of the Vatican's desire to build bridges with the mainland.

The Vatican's position - that it may consider cutting ties with Taiwan in return for greater freedom for the Church to operate inside China - was repeated by Bishop Joseph Zen, the head of the Hong Kong diocese, yesterday. "The Vatican is planning to give up Taiwan. There's no other way," Bishop Zen, a critic of Beijing, told Hong Kong media.