China and Vatican plan reconciliation - report

HONG KONG - China and the Vatican are preparing to bridge the historical differences between them and may even pave the way for the establishment of full diplomatic relations, the Far Eastern Economic Review said on Wednesday.

A series of carefully choreographed statements and meetings in the weeks ahead will end decades of hostility between the tiny European state and Beijing, the magazine said in a news release trailing an article in this week's edition, which hits newsstands on Thursday.

The magazine said Beijing wants to bridge the rift for political reasons.

"In the event of mutual diplomatic recognition, the Vatican would be obliged to break diplomatic relations with Taiwan," the FEER said. "It would also weaken the stance of half a dozen predominantly Catholic countries in Central America that maintains ties with Taiwan."

China and Taiwan have been archrivals since 1949 when the Chinese Nationalists lost a civil war to the Communists and set up a new base in Taiwan.

The Vatican heads the world's hundreds of millions of Roman Catholics. China expelled foreign clergy and broke links with the Vatican in the 1950s.

Quoting diplomatic and church sources, the magazine said the healing of relations will begin on October 14 when Catholic scholars from around the world gather in Beijing for a conference to mark the 400th anniversary of the start of Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci's mission to China in 1601.

The weekly said a similar ceremony will take place in Rome later in that month, where Pope John Paul will offer some form of apology for historical wrongdoing by the Catholic Church in China, primarily its close connection with European imperialism.

"According to the schedule worked out by both sides, relations between the two states will be much improved by the end of next month," the magazine said.

A bitter row between Beijing and the Roman Catholic church erupted last year over the nomination of bishops and the canonisation of saints.

In January 2000, China's state-backed Catholic church defied the pope by ordaining five new bishops.

Nine months later, on China's National Day on October 1, the Vatican canonised 120 Catholic martyrs in China. This angered Beijing, which called the saints "evil-doing sinners" who raped, looted and worked as agents of Western imperialism.

The weekly said visible steps towards improved relations could coincide with the planned visit by U.S. President George W. Bush to China on October 20 to 21. "This would allow Beijing to deflect U.S. criticism of its human rights record."

For the Vatican, an official relationship with China would mean the potential to enlarge its following among the 1.3 billion mainland Chinese, the magazine noted.

Chinese officials were not immediately available to comment.