Vatican will maintain ties:

The Vatican will move to resume relations with China after more than half a century if religious freedom is allowed but it will not abandon China’s diplomatic rival Taiwan, an official said on Tuesday.

The Vatican, which Taiwan sees as an important ally as it fights for international legitimacy against China, would seek to restore an apostolic nunciature in Beijing for the first time since the Communist Party began ruling China in 1949, said Monsignor Ambrose Madtha, charge d’affaires at the Vatican’s diplomatic mission in Taipei.

But the Vatican would seek to keep a delegate in Taiwan, he said. Taiwan split from China in 1949 after the civil war that brought the Communists to power, and the Vatican went with it.

“Holy See’s position is quite clear and is known to the Taiwanese government,” Madtha said. “The Holy See would maintain its delegate in Taipei. The Holy see will not abandon Taiwan.”