Taiwan: Czech President-elect Pavel and Tsai Ing-wen have a phone call and step on Beijing’s political red line again? – BBC News Chinese

Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, an assistant professor at Donghua University in Taiwan, who is engaged in research on European-Taiwan relations, told BBC Chinese, “The phone call between the president-elect of the Czech Republic and President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan is unprecedented in Europe. We look at this incident against the backdrop of increasing exchanges and growing negative perceptions of Beijing in the Czech Republic.”

She said the Czech Republic and Taiwan realized the importance of cooperating with each other as they confronted common challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic and dealing with authoritarian threats. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Prague and Taipei have grown closer, further cementing Taipei’s ties to Central and Eastern Europe, including Taipei’s assistance to Ukrainian refugees from Central and Eastern Europe.

Reuters reported on January 30 that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had contacted the Czech government before the call between Pavel and Tsai Ing-wen in an attempt to cancel the call plan, but failed. According to Reuters, the Chinese Foreign Ministry replied that Pavel had previously stated during the campaign that the one-China principle should be respected. “The Chinese side… is currently seeking verification with the Czech side, and we hope that the Czech side will strictly uphold the one-China principle.”

Feng Rusha, who is from Eastern Europe and was a political adviser to the European Parliament, told the BBC that Prague and Taipei, like other EU member states, are learning how to deal with new geopolitical realities, “but both have ways to deal with Chinese and Russian authoritarianism and various threats. A sense of urgency.”

She explained that the new Czech government, which has been in power since 2021, has expressed its readiness to “reconsider” cooperation with China, and the new president has also said that China is “a threat.” Thus, the phone call between the Czech president-elect and the Taiwanese president reflects a new direction for foreign policy: closer to Taiwan and a stronger Europe, and starting to distance itself from China.

After the phone call with Tsai Ing-wen, Pavel tweeted that the two sides agreed to strengthen the relationship between the two countries, and he looked forward to meeting President Tsai in person in the future. “I spoke today with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. I thank her for her congratulations and assure her that Taiwan shares the values ​​of freedom, democracy and human rights with the Czech Republic. Both sides agreed to strengthen their partnership.”

Taiwan Presidential Office Spokesperson Lin Yu-chan reported on the 30th that Tsai Ing-wen, on behalf of the people and the government of Taiwan, firstly congratulated General Pavel on his election with high votes, and affirmed that the election of President Pavel would continue the founding spirit of the late Czech President Havel in respecting democracy, freedom and human rights. . She also said that Taiwan is willing to deepen cooperation and exchanges with the Czech Republic in semiconductor design, cutting-edge technology talent cultivation, and global supply chain restructuring.

The 61-year-old retired general Pavel, who was born in the military, was the chairman of the NATO Military Commission and the chief of staff of the Czech Republic. His position is pro-EU and NATO.

Pavel won the presidential election against his pro-Russian opponent Andrej Babiš by 58%.

After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, anti-Russian voices in the Czech Republic became louder, and society was very sensitive to Prague’s interaction with Moscow and Beijing. Since Tsai Ing-wen was one of the first foreign leaders contacted by Pavel after his election, Reuters commented that this event was very rare, and it also aroused great concern from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After the call, the speaker of the Czech Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Adamová, also tweeted:post saying: “I will visit Taiwan in March. It is important to support partners who respect democracy and human rights.”

The Czech Republic was once a key country for Beijing to deploy the Belt and Road Initiative in Europe, but its relationship with Beijing has changed dramatically in recent years, and the country’s opposition party’s attitude toward China has begun to change qualitatively in recent years.

In 2019, the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra’s planned tour in China was canceled by the Chinese authorities, saying that the reason was that the mayor of Prague, Zdenek Hrib, who had studied in Taiwan, criticized the “one China” policy and the Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting and other “pro-Taiwan” actions angered China.

At that time, Jipu He told BBC Chinese that culture and art should not be linked with politics, and he was disappointed by the incident.

In August 2020, Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil led a business delegation to visit Taiwan, causing even more uproar. Prior to this, China has been trying to exert pressure to prevent Wittzi from visiting Taiwan. According to the Czech constitution, the president of the Czech Senate is second only to the president.

The then pro-Beijing Czech President Miloš Zeman criticized Wittzi’s visit to Taiwan as a “naive and provocative act”.

In addition, Witzi took office because Jaroslav Kubera, the former speaker of the Czech Senate, was scheduled to visit Taiwan in February, but died of a heart attack before departure. At that time, the Czech media broke the news that a few days before Kojalo’s heart attack, the Chinese embassy in Prague had sent a letter warning him that if he insisted on visiting Taiwan, Czech companies in China would pay a “heavy price.” This letter originally belonged to The exposure of the confidential threatening letter caused turmoil in the Czech Republic. Ke Jialuo’s relatives accused China of threatening Ke Jialuo’s heart attack.

The Czech Republic, with a population of about 10.9 million, is considered an indicator country for successful democratization transition after the collapse of the communist regime in Eastern Europe since the late 1980s.

The peaceful revolution led by former President Havel was known internationally as the “Velvet Revolution” (Velvet Revolution). With the invasion of Ukraine shaking Europe, the country has become an important country for the two major powers to seek support. How Beijing will interact with the new government led by Pavel is expected to be a major focus of Eastern European politics.