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TAIPEI: China’s “vulgar threats” over the visit of the President of the Senate of the Czech Republic to Taiwan are like an untimely cold winter wind and are in stark contrast to the polite words the speaker delivered while in Taiwan, said a senior Taiwanese politician on Thursday (September 3). .
China, which claims Taiwan as its sovereign territory, has condemned the president of the Czech Senate, Milos Vystrcil, for going. The top Chinese government diplomat, Wang Yi, said this week that he would pay a “high price” for visiting the democratic island.
Vystrcil declared himself Taiwanese in a speech in Taiwan’s parliament on Tuesday, channeling the late US President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to communism in Berlin in 1963, further enraging Beijing but winning applause in Taipei.
Speaking to Vystrcil at his side in Taipei, Taiwanese Speaker You Si-kun praised his “moving” speech in the legislature.
Vystrcil “was gentle and graceful, a model of a cultured country, like the spring sun, splendid and warned: the people of Taiwan were deeply moved,” you said.
“However, the vulgar threats from China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi were like an unwelcome cold winter wind causing discomfort.”
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President of the Czech Senate Milos Vystrcil and Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu pose for a group photo after a joint press conference in Taipei, Taiwan, on September 3, 2020. REUTERS / Ann Wang
Vystrcil said he had invited him to head a delegation to Prague for what he called a “working visit,” and dismissed criticism from China.
“Of course I don’t like the statements, but I don’t think I have crossed the red line at all, as I don’t think we have done anything that is a violation of the ‘one China’ policy as the Czech Republic has within. of its foreign policy, ”he said, speaking through an interpreter.
“As I have always said, democratic and free countries must always cooperate. There is nothing to change in that approach.”
The Czech Republic, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan. China demands that the countries with which it has relations accept that Taiwan belongs to “one China”.
Taiwan has shown no interest in being ruled by China.
