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By Ben Blanchard and Yew Lun Tian
TAIPEI / BEIJING (Reuters) – Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil “will pay a high price” for making an official trip to Taiwan, the top Chinese government diplomat said on Monday, prompting Prague to summon the Chinese ambassador to China to explain the comments that line said “.
Vystrcil arrived in Taipei on Sunday on a visit to promote trade ties with Taiwan and said the Czech Republic will not give in to Beijing’s objections. China considers Taiwan to be a separatist province ineligible for state-to-state relations.
“The Chinese government and the Chinese people will not adopt a laissez-faire attitude or sit idly by, and they will make him (Vystrcil) pay a high price for his shortsighted behavior and political opportunism,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying. China to State Councilor Wang. Yi as if saying.
Wang, who was visiting Germany, did not elaborate on how Beijing would respond.
Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek said that although the government did not support the trip, Wang’s comments were too strong and he summoned the Chinese ambassador to explain.
“Minister Wang’s statement has crossed the line, such strong words do not belong to the relations between two sovereign countries,” Petricek said on Twitter, calling for cooperation “without emotions that do not belong to diplomacy.”
Vystrcil said that Wang’s comments were interference in Czech internal affairs and that his visit was not intended to “politically confront anyone.”
“We are a free country that seeks to have good relations with all countries and I believe that this will be the case in the future, regardless of the minister’s statement,” he said in a statement.
Speaking later at a Taipei university, Vystrcil praised Taiwan and its democratic way of life.
Taiwan’s Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua, speaking before a business forum with Vystrcil, told reporters that the Czech Republic and Taiwan were “free and democratic countries that attach great importance to human rights.”
Czech President Milos Zeman has sought closer business and political ties with China since taking office in 2013, but his efforts have been hampered by failed investment plans and Czech hesitation over allowing China’s Huawei Technologies to play a role. role in the development of next generation telecommunications networks.
(Reporting by Yew Lun Tian in Beijing and Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Additional reporting by Robert Muller in Prague; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Lincoln Feast and Timothy Heritage)
