Pope Francis’s recent statements on China and his New Year’s greetings for President Xi Jinping generated little official reaction from the Chinese government.

“We have noted relevant reports,” said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang at a press conference on Feb 3. “China has always been sincere in improving the relationship with the Vatican. We have also made relentless efforts to that end. We are willing to conduct constructive dialogues and work together with the Vatican to push forward the process of improving the bilateral relations based on relevant principles. We also hope that the Vatican would adopt a flexible and practical attitude to create conditions for the improvement of the bilateral relationship.”

When asked if China would invite the pope to visit, Lu said, “I have no information on that.” By comparison, Lu’s response to a question about Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to four African nations received much more attention from Lu. The China Patriotic Catholic Association made no statement on its website regarding the January 28 interview with the pope published by AsiaTimes.

Despite excitement about the pope’s focus on China outside of the country, the muted reaction is entirely understandable. Pope Francis’ visit to the United States in September completely overshadowed Xi Jinping’s overlapping trip there, which likely did not go unnoticed in Chinese leadership circles.

More pragmatically, China has far less to gain from establishing relations with the Vatican than vice-versa. Chinese Catholics number about 12 million, or less than one percent of its total population, and unlike some Muslims and even Tibetan Buddhists, they are not not restive and certainly not violent. And unlike even some small nations blessed with rare minerals or other commodity China needs, the Vatican has no economic or trade benefits to offer. China would likely only accept diplomatic relations with Rome if its longstanding ties with Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province, were severed, a move that would seem shocking and send a chill through Hong Kong and Macau, which currently enjoy religious freedom but are still ultimately part of the People’s Republic.

Steven Schwankert is an award-winning writer and editor with 17 years of experience in Greater China, focusing on exploration, technology, media and culture. His book, Poseidon: China's Secret Salvage of Britain's Lost Submarine was published in 2013 by Hong Kong University Press. A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, his work has been published in The Asian Wall Street Journal, The South China Morning Post, Billboard, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. It has also appeared on the web sites of The New York Times, The Washington Post, PCWorld and MacWorld. He is a former deputy Asia editor for The Hollywood Reporter, former editor of Computerworld Hong Kong and former managing editor of asia.internet.com.