Vatican to dump Taiwan
The Roman Catholic Church has a pragmatic side. Dump Taiwan and hope China appreciates it .
Although the Pope made overtures to Beijing for many years, relations never thawed during his pontificate because of Chinese unease over his strong stance against communism. In the 1980s Deng Xiaoping, China's paramount leader, warned his officials to beware the "Polish disease" spreading to China.
The Chinese government hardly seems impressed.
Qin Gang, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, reacted with scepticism, claiming that the country's state-approved Catholics "had chosen to run their church independently amid a struggle against colonialism, imperialism and slavery".