Taiwan envoy to pope's funeral says he aims to chat with world leaders

By Ben Blanchard

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's envoy to the funeral of Pope Francis aims to use his attendance to "have a good chat" with leaders of countries who are friendly to Taipei, taking the opportunity to boost the international ties of the diplomatically-isolated island.

While the Vatican is one of only 12 countries to maintain formal diplomatic relations with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, President Lai Ching-te is not attending the funeral. Lai is sending instead former Vice President Chen Chien-jen, a devout Catholic who has been to the Vatican several times before.

Other attendees include U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Chen said he would do his best to have "good interactions" with other countries whose leaders are also going to the funeral, speaking in an interview with Taiwan's Central News Agency and Public Television Service published on the Facebook page of Taiwan's embassy to the Vatican on Saturday.

Taiwan has good relations with many like-minded countries and Chen "will seize the opportunity to have a good chat, even if it is just a few words, that's important, which is an opportunity to increase friendly relations," he was paraphrased as saying.

Chen is being accompanied by Vice Foreign Minister Francois Wu, one of Taiwan's most high-profile diplomats, who regularly appears in interviews with foreign media and was previously the de facto ambassador to France.

China, which has no diplomatic relations with the Vatican, has not said who it might send to the funeral, though its foreign ministry expressed condolences this week on the pope's death.

Taiwan had nervously watched Francis' efforts to improve relations with China.

In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties.

Chen, also a former Taiwan premier, said he believed that under the leadership of the next pope Taiwan would continue to work with the Vatican "to achieve the best development in all aspects and jointly promote regional peace and world stability."

China says Taiwan is one of its provinces with no right to state-to-state ties, a position the government in Taipei strongly refutes.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Tom Hogue)