Taiwan has transformed itself into the “anti-China” in the Czech domestic debate.

The Diplomat
Date: June 27, 20209
By: Filip Šebok   

On June 9, Czech Senate President Miloš Vystrčil summoned a press conference to announce

a long-expected decision on an issue that had animated a domestic political debate for months: his planned visit to Taiwan. Vystrčil surprised few when he confirmed that he will visit the self-ruling island at the end of August. This was presented as a heroic decision in the face of Chinese pressure by some and a blatant attempt to disrupt ties with China by others. How has Taiwan become such a hot topic in this small Central European country?

While ostensibly a foreign policy topic, the Taiwan issue in the Czech Republic has become a proxy battleground for opposing domestic camps. The China-friendly camp, represented by President Miloš Zeman and his political allies, sees the visit to Taiwan as an affront to the China-friendly policy they have advocated in the past several years, arguing that it will hurt the country economically.

For this reason, Zeman’s office has been doing its utmost to stop the visit, which was originally to be conducted by Vystrčil’s predecessor in the office of Senate president, Jaroslav Kubera. In this effort, Zeman’s office has even solicited the support of the local Chinese Embassy, asking for its statement on the impact of the visit on Czech-China ties. The statement, later delivered to Kubera via the president‘s office, directly named Czech companies whose business in China would be hurt should the Taiwan visit go on. Curiously, more pressure against the Taiwan visit seems to have come from domestic actors rather than China directly, although Beijing has also repeatedly let its displeasure known in no uncertain terms.    [FULL  STORY]