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Taiwan is a country with democratic elections and it really shouldn’t be mentioned as a country, if the communist leadership in China is allowed to decide. The Chinese regime believes that Taiwan is a province of China that should be incorporated into the People’s Republic.
The Czech Republic is now in the hot air after Czech President Milos Vystrcil, second in the Czech Republic, arrived in Taiwan with a delegation of 90 people.
For such high-ranking leaders in the West to visit Taiwan is unusual and comes at an extremely inopportune time for the Chinese regime, which is trying to improve its reputation after the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi went on a European tour for the first time since the virus broke out to strengthen ties.
That then the president of the Czech Republic while visiting Taiwan he makes the regime look red.
“The Chinese government and the Chinese people do not intend to be slow or remain silent, but rather they intend to make you pay a high price for this short-term behavior and political opportunism,” Wang Yi said, quoted as saying. by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China.
Similar are the tones in the Global Times, loyal to the party, which describes the visit as evil. Respecting the one-country principle of China (that Taiwan is part of the People’s Republic) and not forging official ties with Taiwan are promises of all countries that have established diplomatic relations with China, the newspaper writes.
As the world’s second-largest economy and with a huge market of 1.4 billion, China has repeatedly managed to silence critics with threats of punishment. A well-known example is Norway, whose relationship with China was frozen after regime critic Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. The trade relationship was put on hold and Norwegian salmon exports suffered heavy losses.
It was not until 2016 that the relationship was normalized after Norway more or less apologized and expressed understanding for China’s outrage. When the Chinese Foreign Minister visited Norway last week and was asked how China would react if the Hong Kong protest movement were to receive the peace prize, the answer was.
– China would strongly oppose a peace prize that interferes in China’s internal affairs.
At the same time, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Ine Eriksen Søreide, remained silent with her.
Similarly, companies and countries have been financially threatened if they support Taiwan. The world’s airlines, including SAS, changed their name from the destination Taiwan to Taipei due to pressure from China.
It is not clear exactly how the Czech Republic will be punished with the visit to Taiwan. The Czech Republic is a country where politicians are divided in their attitude towards China.
Here, on the one hand, is the president Milos Zeman, who has forged closer ties with China and emphasized the economic opportunities offered by an exchange with Beijing. In recent years, Chinese companies have bought, among other things, a hotel, a brewery and the Slavia Prague football club.
At the same time, the mayor of Prague, Zdenek Hrib, leads a critical phalanx of Beijing in the Czech Republic. Among other things, he swapped Beijing for Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, as a twin city, met with Chinese dissidents and raised the Tibetan flag in front of his office.
Milos Vystrcil’s trip to Taiwan was not sanctioned by the Czech government. But the Chinese criticism has led Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek to react. China is crossing a border, he believes, and has summoned the Chinese ambassador for an explanation.
Vystrcil, on the other hand, spoke in much the same way as China usually does when the country is criticized for its policies, for example in Hong Kong or Tibet. He said that China is interfering in the internal affairs of the Czech Republic.
“We are a free country that wants good relations with all countries and we will continue to do so regardless of a statement from a minister,” Vystrcil said.
