A Diplomatic Experiment or a Policy of Two China?

The Dynamism of the 2018–2023 Vatican–Beijing Agreement

Abstract

The complex contexts of the Chinese world generated various approaches of the Vatican diplomacy, which represented interests of Catholics of two Chinese states: the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC). Backing the Taipei government, the Vatican was drawn into a direct rivalry between PRC and Taiwan for the diplomatic recognition of the latter in the world. Until 2018, the official relations of the PRC authority with Chinese Catholics were limited exclusively to the Beijing-dependent Catholic Patriotic Association. After many fruitless attempts to establish relations with PRC by papal diplomacy, “The 2018 Vatican–China Agreement” (2018 Nián de fàn zhōng xiéyì) became the first official bridge in the process of establishing diplomatic relations between these ideologically conflicted entities, in the context of maintaining diplomatic relations between the Holy See and ROC. However, after this agreement was concluded, the condition of the Catholic Church in PRC remains difficult and controversial. The divergences of interests and expectations of both parties to the agreement are considerable. However, what looks like a ‘diplomatic experiment’ of Vatican diplomacy actually becomes the specific asymmetric policy of two Chinas. Depending on the priorities and other circumstances – the focus of Vatican diplomacy shifts – not always consistently, either to Beijing or lately less frequently towards Taiwan.