In the end, Pope Francis’ ‘kowtow diplomacy’ towards China will show itself to be smart diplomacy

You don’t have to be a saint to be a great and effective leader, but you do have to be audacious. So when an audacious leader comes along that a good many admirers suspect to be a saint, you have probably got something special in front of you. May we presume this, for the moment at least, of Pope Francis?

The restless pope: after a papal visit to Mexico, about which US presidential candidate Donald Trump (audacious, but no saint) had something negative to say, Vatican sources floated the thought that perhaps Francis might soon visit China.

READ MORE: Pope sends ‘olive branch’ to China amid hopes of reconciliation with Chinese authorities

Yet, for noodle-brain elements here in the United States, Francis’s diplomatic charm offensive may come across as classic kowtowing –­ an unseemly, un-audacious genuflection to the rising power of communist China. But effective diplomacy, especially when in public light, usually requires a premeditated emphasis on the positive (the negative comes later, behind closed doors). What’s more, a posture of kowtowing can be potent when the target is known to be susceptible to it – as shown throughout the history of China.

READ MORE: So near, yet so far: Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pope Francis miss each other on back-to-back visits to US

So the pope’s kowtow diplomacy towards China is smart stuff. What he wants is to be able to improve the condition of his Catholics in their spiritual development; so he not only dreams of a semi-normal relationship between the Vatican and Beijing, he also envisions his church and the Chinese state working in polite, respectful parallel on the appointment of mainland bishops. Such accords would hardly undermine Beijing’s national security and would certainly boost China’s global image.