VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -- A top Vatican diplomat, speaking as Chinese President Jiang Zemin made an official visit to Italy, said Monday the Holy See was willing to rethink its relations with Taiwan in order to forge ties with Beijing.
Vatican Foreign Minister Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, holding out the Vatican's latest olive branch to Beijing, also said the Vatican would not interfere in China's internal relations if ties were forged."We are aware that in order to normalize our relations with Beijing we will have to modify the form (of relations) with Taipei," he told Milan's Corriere della Sera newspaper.
"We are willing to negotiate," Tauran said when asked about Beijing's insistence that the Vatican sever ties with Taiwan before talks on links with China can begin.
With the Vatican and Vietnam inching towards diplomatic ties, China and North Korea are virtually the only major communist countries with no links to the Holy See.
Unlike most heads of state or government who visit Italy, Jiang is not expected to have any contacts with the Vatican.
Beijing does not allow its Catholics to recognize the pope's authority. Catholic officials say there are some 4 million members of the state-controlled church in China but as many as eight million others worship underground and recognize the pope.