China expects Vatican to straighten the past

China has called on the head of the Roman Catholic Church to take steps to mend the strained relationship between the Vatican City and Beijing.

"We hope the new Pope, Pope Francis will meet the Chinese halfway and take credible steps to improve the relation between the Vatican and China", Mr Liu Jingguang, the Deputy Director-General of the State Administration for Religious Affairs of the People's Republic of China told journalists in Beijing.
  
Mr Liu, who was answering questions from visiting senior African journalists currently taking part in a China-African programme, said if the relationship between China and the Vatican could improve, then the Vatican should "sever its so-called relationship with Taiwan and recognise the Chinese government as the legitimate authority in China.
 
In addition, Vatican should also not interfere in the internal affairs of China under any circumstance including hiding behind religion.
  
"China does not oppose religion. What it opposes is the interference in its internal affairs through the use of religion,” he stated.
  
Mr Liu explained that the Vatican adopted a hostile approach towards China in 1949 when the People's Republic of China was formed under the CPC.
 
He said the church issued decrees on a number of occasions calling on its members not to read CPC newspapers, adding that that gesture compelled the then Chinese leaders to expel foreign Catholic bishops from the country.
 
Mr Liu said since the Vatican is a religious state, the Pope's representative could live in Beijing should the relationship between the two sides improve in future.
  
"What we will not expect from him is the interference in our internal affairs,” he said.
  
Currently, the Catholic population in China is six million while the membership of the Protestant churches is 23 million.
 
There are also 21 million Moslems with 35,000 mosques spread across China.
 
 A section of Article Four of China's Regulations on Religious Affairs stipulates that "Religious bodies, sites for religious activities and religious affairs are not subject to any foreign domination."
 

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