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China has warned its citizens not to travel to the Czech Republic amid tensions between the two countries over Taiwan.
In a brief statement on Friday, China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism said Chinese citizens “should not travel to the Czech Republic in any way” due to “signs of a rapid rebound in the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The European country had previously been applauded for its success in fighting the epidemic, but earlier this week it reported more than 1,000 cases of coronavirus in one day for the first time, prompting authorities to tighten requirements for the use of masks indoors.
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China has heavily restricted travel abroad since March and, although Beijing cited the rise in infections as the reason for the warning, it came shortly after a high-profile visit by a Czech politician to Taiwan, which Beijing claims as own.
At the end of last month, the president of the Czech Senate, Milos Vystrcil, made an official trip to Taiwan, the most important politician in the central European country to visit the autonomous island in 16 years.
Beijing has vowed to take back the island and sees any official visit to Taiwan by foreign politicians as a challenge to its sovereignty.
During his trip to Germany last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned that Beijing would not be left behind after Vystrcil’s “public provocation” and threatened to make him “pay a high price” for visiting Vystrcil. Taiwan
The Czech Republic is one of the most popular destinations in Europe for Chinese tourists, with an estimated 612,000 Chinese travelers visiting the country last year. According to figures from the Czech government, China is the fourth largest source of tourists to the country, after Germany, Slovakia and Poland.
Dubbed “walking bags,” more middle-class Chinese are traveling to destinations around the world, but they are also increasingly being used as a veiled means for Beijing to put pressure on other governments.
In June, Beijing warned its citizens not to visit Australia due to “an increase in acts of racial discrimination against Chinese and Asians due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Authorities did not offer specific examples and the warning was widely seen as part of Beijing’s response to Canberra’s call for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
Last year, in a move widely seen as an effort to pressure the independence administration of President Tsai Ing-wen, Beijing unexpectedly announced travel restrictions to Taiwan, citing “constant efforts by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party to push forward the activities of independence from Taiwan and inciting hostility towards the mainland ”.
Beijing also used similar tactics in 2016 against South Korea over Seoul’s decision to host a US-backed anti-missile system, dealing a severe blow to South Korea’s tourism industry.
In November 2017, Beijing halted group visits to the Pacific island of Palau in an apparent effort to pressure Palau to switch diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
This article China warns against travel to the Czech Republic as tensions rise over Taiwan first appeared in the South China Morning Post
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