Taiwan envoy said he prayed for president to be able to attend new pope's inauguration

By Ben Blanchard

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's envoy to the funeral of Pope Francis said he prayed for President Lai Ching-te to be able to attend the inauguration of the new pontiff, and that he had met Japan's foreign minister, easing the island's diplomatic isolation.

The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to maintain formal ties with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, whose government had hoped that Lai would have been able to attend Francis' funeral, giving him the chance to mix with other world leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump.

However, former Vice President Chen Chien-jen ended up representing Lai, a devout Catholic who had previously met Francis on six occasions.

Francis had led an wide-ranging outreach to officially atheist China, including signing a deal on the appointment of Catholic bishops in that country, worrying Taiwan.

In comments published by Taiwan's official Central News Agency late on Saturday after the funeral concluded, Chen said he hoped Francis continued to pray from heaven for even better relations between Taiwan and the Vatican.

"I also hope that when the new pope is elected, President Lai Ching-te will be able to represent our country to attend the inauguration of the new pope, which I mentioned in my prayers at the mass," Chen said.

The conclave that will elect a new pope is expected to start some time between May 6 and May 11.

Francis' inauguration in 2013 was attended by Taiwan's then-President Ma Ying-jeou.

China did not announce that it had sent any delegation to Francis' funeral, though did express its condolences.

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

Chen and Wu both met and spoke with former-U.S. President Joe Biden, whose administration gave strong support to Taiwan, the Central News Agency said.

Chen also said he met Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and "talked about the good cooperation between the two countries," the report added.

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

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Kim Coghill)