Zhu Rongji was quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA as saying that “China will be open to the Pope” once contentious issues are settled. The Chinese leader also said that there have been “numerous contacts” between the Beijing government and the Holy See, as the two bodies work to resolve their differences.

The Italian daily Il Messaggero quoted Vatican sources as saying that the Chinese prime minister was “a bit too emphatic” in claiming to have “numerous” contacts with the Vatican. However, the source conceded that there has been more contact between Rome and Beijing in recent months than in past years.

The “problems” cited by Zhu are the same issues that have divided the Vatican and the Chinese government for years: the Chinese demand that the Holy See must break off diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and promise not to “interfere” in China’s internal affairs. The Holy See, meanwhile, insists that Chinese Catholics must be free to practice their faith and to remain in full communion with the Holy See.

The Chinese prime minister insisted that China’s constitution already guarantees freedom of religion. Vatican officials do not dispute that fact, but point out that the Chinese practice is far different from the legal theory.

Later during the visit, China said the Vatican will never be given the opportunity to supplant Chinese bishops appointed by the Communist government and there will not be diplomatic relations until the Holy See rejects its formal recognition of Taiwan.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhang Quiye told reporters during Zhu’s visit that no formal contacts had been made with the Vatican during the trip. She said, “Our policy is that China wants to improve relations with the Vatican but two principles must be followed. The Holy See must break diplomatic relations with Taiwan and recognize the People’s Republic of China,” and the Church must be not “interfere in internal Chinese affairs, exploiting religion to interfere in Chinese affairs.”

The Communist Chinese government requires Christians to worship only in state-controlled associations, including the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which eschews any connections to the Vatican or the Pope. Many Catholics worship in illegal, underground churches, following only bishops appointed by the Pope.

Zhang said the Vatican could never replace the Patriotic Association, even if relations were established. “I am not an expert on ecclesiastical affairs but I know the Patriotic Association will continue to exist,” she said. “The Chinese ecclesiastical situation is based on a compatibility with historical and national conditions. This won’t ever change.” She added that the association exists because of “the desire of the mass of Chinese believers.”

China has recently bucked behind-the-scenes overtures by the Holy See to establish ties when it appointed its own bishops to head the Patriotic Association without consulting the Vatican first or seeking the approval of the Holy Father.

In a statement released on Saturday, June 24, the Vatican said that the ordination of bishops without papal authorization is “a painful wound to Church communion.” The statement goes on to say that the “seriousness” of such an illicit episcopal ordination could merit the “severe sanctions” laid down by canon law.

The canonical penalty for an unauthorized episcopal ordination, as laid out in Canon 1382, is excommunication. That penalty could apply both to the bishop who is ordained and to the bishop(s) who perform the ordination. The excommunication would be “latae sententiae”—that is, the penalty would be incurred automatically, requiring no official statement from the Vatican.

The Vatican statement expressed “surprise” that the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association would go through with a new episcopal ordination, at a time when the Beijing government is expressing a keen interest in improved relations with the Holy See. New ordinations for the Patriotic Church—which does not recognize the authority of the Vatican—would be a severe obstacle to improved relations, the Vatican observed.

The strong statement from the Vatican came shortly after the announcement that Father Matthew Cao would be ordained as a bishop for service to the Patriotic Church. That ceremony was reportedly set to take place in Zhejiang on Sunday, June 25.

The Vatican has repeatedly emphasized that no bishop should be ordained without the approval of the Holy See. The Patriotic Church had not sought such approval for the ordination of Father Cao. And none of the three bishops of the Patriotic Church who would reportedly perform the ordination—Bishops Yu of Haimen, Wu of Nanchang, and Fu Tieshan of Beijing—is recognized by the Holy See. In January of this year, the officially sanctioned Chinese Church ordained five new bishops, in a controversial ceremony that took place in Nangtang cathedral. That ordination drew protests from other Chinese Catholics, who have continued to criticize the Patriotic Association for its hostility toward the Vatican.

According to the Fides news service, there are approximately four million Catholics active in the “official” Catholic churches of China—which are, at least theoretically, controlled by the Patriotic Association. (In many cases, officially recognized parishes quietly maintain their ties to Rome.) Another six million Catholics worship with the “underground” Church, which remains loyal to the Holy See.

Public outrage over the tragic death of 58 Chinese immigrants, whose bodies were found at Dover, England, in June after suffocating in a Dutch truck, was still acute as the Premier visiting Europe broached the subject of clandestine immigration and asked for cooperation from the international community: “In China we have laws to ban and prohibit such illegal emigration, but the international gangs are also shrewd and therefore we need international cooperation to root out the problem.”

Traditionally, routes for human-trafficking were directed towards the United States and Canada. In recent years Latin America was included, but mainly as a springboard for North America. However since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Europe seemed to become the most popular destination.

It is estimated that in the mid-1990s as many as 800,000 mainland Chinese were waiting in former Soviet territories, Russia, Bulgaria, and Poland for an opportunity to migrate to Western Europe or North America. US sources estimate that at least 100,000 mainlanders illegally leave their homeland every year. The route across former-Communist countries is the easiest if they have money: because of lax visa requirements and easily corrupted officials, Chinese can even travel by air across the frontier.

With debts up to US$ 40,000 to pay off their illegal journeys, most immigrants are then forced to accept any sort of work and are often “slaves” of the immigration organization.

One of the most popular destinations of illegal Chinese immigrants has always been Canada’s west coast: Vancouver has about 400,000 Chinese migrants, about a third of the population. All the 600 boat people who arrived in the summer of 1999 in four decrepit cargo ships applied for refugee status. Many claimed they were members of the banned Falun Gong religious sect, while most of the women said they had been forced to undergo abortions under the “one child” policy in China. However only 12 claimants won refugee status and were allowed to stay. Of 100 released on bail, most have gone missing, while the rest are still appealing against expulsion.

For some regions of China, such as Fujian, illegal emigration is not a new phenomenon: The Chinese diaspora of Southeast Asia has been populated by Fujianese and Hakka migrants as well as Guangdong natives over the past several hundred years. In these regions many villages are empty of working age people, and the elderly mind their grandchildren while parents work overseas.