BEIJING -- China hopes Pope Benedict XVI can visit, but the Holy See must first establish diplomatic relations with Beijing, a spokesman of the Communist nation's official Catholic Church said Thursday.

"We hope he can visit China as soon as possible. That would be good for the Chinese Catholic Church," said Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.

"However, the first step is to establish diplomatic relations," he told Agence France-Presse.

Liu was speaking after Joseph Li Shan, Beijing bishop for China's state-controlled Catholic Church, told Italian TV that China would like a visit by the pope.

"We very much hope that the pope will come to China. It's a great aspiration, and we hope it will materialize. Relations with the Vatican are constantly improving," the bishop told RAI television in an interview.

As a precondition for diplomatic ties, China has required that the Vatican end its official relationship with Taiwan.

Equally important, the two sides have so far been unable to re-establish formal ties because China wants to choose its own priests and bishops, a right the Holy See insists rests only with them.

China severed its ties with the Vatican in 1951 in anger at the Holy See's diplomatic recognition of Taiwan.

In 1957, China set up the Patriotic Association, which formally oversees the country's officially registered Catholics.