China has criticized the leadership of Prague, intensifying a dispute after the Czech capital withdrew from a sister-city partnership with Beijing.
The conflict has been brewing since the upstart Pirate party took over the Prague mayor’s office and took issue with Beijing’s “one China” policy in regards to the sovereignty of Taiwan and Tibet.
The city council withdrew from the sister-city deal, signed on Oct. 7, 2016, with mayor Zdenek Hrib saying Prague took the action because Beijing rejected a Czech request to remove a clause from the agreement that states that Prague supports the “one-China” principle, which does not recognize Taiwan. The declaration isn’t appropriate for a pact between cities, as it is a matter of national policy, Hrib said.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Prague, Czech Republic
照片:駐捷克台北經濟文化代表處提供
Hrib said Prague wants to focus on cultural cooperation, not on politics.
China’s embassy reacted angrily, saying on Facebook that Prague’s leadership must change its attitude or “it will be their own interests that will be hurt.” The cancellation is “a breach of trust” hurting ties between the two countries, the embassy said, after sending a “serious protest” to the city’s administration.
The city magistrate’s policy toward China clashes with that of the Czech national leadership, with Czech President Milos Zeman an enthusiastic promoter of Chinese investment in Europe. The country’s Foreign Ministry, which recognizes the “one China” policy, said the national government wouldn’t get involved.
Photo: Screen grab from Facebook
照片:翻攝自臉書
The dispute erupted last year when China banned several orchestras with “Prague” in their names from performing there after Hrib refused to expel a Taiwanese diplomat from a meeting he hosted.
The Czech capital has long been a bastion of support for Tibet, with late Czech president Vaclav Havel and other politicians hosting the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, to Beijing’s disapproval.
Hrib’s administration restored Havel’s practice of flying the Tibetan flag from Prague City Hall. The national government has taken a different stance, with police suppressing peaceful demonstrations during a visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2016 and forcing people to remove Tibetan flags from their homes.
Photo: Pixabay
照片:Pixabay
In a clear reference to past political liberalization mass-movements such as the 1968 Prague Spring, which was brutally repressed by Soviet troops, and the 1989 Velvet Revolution against then-Czechoslovakia’s communist regime, Michaela Krausova, head of the Pirate caucus at Prague City Council wrote in a tweet: “we must remind ourselves that conscience is not for sale.”
Speaking of his last visit to Taiwan in March, Hrib says that although 14 years had passed since he had last visited Taiwan, during which time both Taipei and Prague have changed considerably, the two cities’ unshakeable shared belief in freedom and democracy has never changed.
(Bloomberg with staff writer)
Photo: Lee Yue-ling, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者李月伶
捷克首都布拉格解除與北京的姊妹市合作關係後,中國出言威脅布拉格市長,使爭端加劇。
自從新崛起的捷克海盜黨贏得布拉格市長選舉,並對北京有關台灣與西藏主權的「一個中國」政策提出質疑後,衝突便一直在醞釀。
布拉格市議會十月七日解除了二○一六年與北京簽署的姊妹市協議,市長茲德尼克‧賀吉普表示,這是因為中國拒絕刪除姐妹市協議中的「一個中國」條款,該條款聲明布拉格支持「一個中國」原則,也就是說,不承認台灣。賀吉普說,「一個中國」條款不適用城市與城市之間的協議,因為這屬於國家的政策。
Photo: CNA
照片:中央社
賀吉普指出,布拉格希望把重點放在文化合作上,而不是政治。
中國大使館對此表示憤怒,在其臉書上表示,布拉格領導層應盡快改變態度,否則「到頭來損害的會是他們自己的利益」。中國大使館向布拉格市政府提出「嚴重抗議」,並說布拉格此舉是「違反信任」,傷害了中國與捷克共和國之間的關係。
布拉格市政府對中國的政策抵觸了捷克總統米洛斯‧澤曼的政策,澤曼熱衷推動中國對歐洲的投資。承認「一個中國」政策的捷克外交部表示,捷克中央政府不會介入此事。
去年在賀吉普所主持的一個會議中,他拒絕將與會的台灣外交官驅逐,中國因此便禁止了數個名稱中有「布拉格」的樂團到中國演出,此爭端於是爆發開來。
布拉格長期以來一直堅定支持西藏,已故捷克總統瓦茨拉夫‧哈維爾和其他政治人物曾不顧北京反對,接待了流亡的西藏精神領袖達賴喇嘛。
賀吉普政府恢復了哈維爾在布拉格市政廳懸掛西藏國旗的做法,但捷克中央政府的立場卻是不同調。二○一六年在中國國家主席習近平訪問捷克期間,捷克警察鎮壓和平示威,並強迫民眾移除住家所懸掛的西藏雪山獅子旗。
捷克曾經歷一連串民主化運動,例如一九六八年遭蘇聯武裝鎮壓的「布拉格之春」,以及一九八九年對抗共黨統治的「絲絨革命」。在此歷史脈絡下,布拉格市議會海盜黨總召米凱拉‧柯索娃在推特中說道:「我們必須提醒自己,良知是不能夠買賣的」。
賀吉普今年三月訪台時,談及對台灣的印象和心得。時隔十四年再度訪台的他說,這些年台北與布拉格都改變了很多,但他認為,這兩個城市對自由民主的堅持及共同的價值都未曾改變。
(台北時報林俐凱編譯)
讀後練習
True or False
1. Prague’s rejection of the “one China” policy is opposed by the Czech Republic’s central government because it is inconsistent with the position of the Czech president.
2. China has banned several orchestras with “Prague” in their names from performing in the country due to a fracas over Beijing’s “one China” policy.
3. The Czech Republic was previously a communist country.
4. Zdenek Hrib is the first Prague mayor to fly the Tibetan flag at Prague City Hall.
(Lin Lee-kai, Taipei Times)
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