BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday Pope John Paul's apology for Church errors of the colonial past did not go far enough because he did not say sorry for canonising Catholic martyrs on China's National Day last year.
But Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said China would still resume talks on opening diplomatic ties with the Vatican if the Holy See cut relations with Taiwan and agreed not to interfere in China's internal affairs.
The Pope's request for forgiveness and understanding for the errors of missionaries in colonial times last Wednesday was "a positive expression", Sun told a news conference.
"However, we have also noticed that the Pope did not make a clear apology for the canonisation last year, which deeply hurt the feelings of the Chinese people," he said. "We feel disappointed by that."
Relations between the Vatican and Beijing hit a low when the Pope canonized 120 Catholic martyrs on China's October 1 National Day last year after the Chinese state-approved church ordained five new bishops.
The Vatican said the martyrs were killed because they were loyal to their faith. Beijing said most were traitors executed for breaking laws when foreign forces invaded China during the 1839-42 Opium War, and during the 1898-1900 Boxer Uprising.
"We were firmly opposed to it," Sun said. "We clearly stated our position and provided relevant materials to them. This issue has not been resolved up to now."
China said last Thursday it was ready to improve relations with the Vatican if it severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a rebel province, and promised not to use religion as a pretext to interfere in China's domestic affairs.
On Tuesday, Sun urged the Vatican to remove remaining obstacles to improving relations, saying the Holy See was "very clear about what it should do".
Chinese Catholics have welcomed the Pope's overture.
But scholars say a swift breakthrough is unlikely after half a century of bitterness, despite the Pontiff's expressed wish to visit China before he dies and to expand the reach of the church among the country's 1.3 billion people.
In addition to problems over Taiwan, tricky negotiations remain over the future of China's underground Catholic church -- estimated by the Vatican to embrace eight million believers.
China's Communist government cut diplomatic ties with the Vatican in the 1950s, expelled Catholic missionaries and forced Chinese believers to register with the state-backed Catholic Patriotic Association, which now claims five million members.