Czech president-elect Petr Pavel spoke by telephone with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday, a highly unusual move given the lack of formal ties and a diplomatic coup for Taipei.
Tsai spoke with Pavel for 15 minutes in a harmonious atmosphere, Presidential Office spokeswoman Lin Yu-chan (林聿禪) said, adding that Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) was also present during the conversation.
Lin quoted Pavel as telling Tsai that Taiwan is a trustworthy partner, adding that the Czech Republic stands firmly on the side of democracy and supports Taiwan in maintaining a lively democratic system free from authoritarian coercion.
Photo: EPA and Taipei Times
The Czech Republic would boost cooperation with Taiwan in all aspects, he added.
Most nations’ leaders avoid high-level public interactions with Taiwan and its president, not wishing to provoke China, the world’s second-largest economy.
Then-US president-elect Donald Trump in 2016 spoke by telephone with Tsai shortly after winning the election, setting off a storm of protest from Beijing.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
Pavel, a retired general who served as the head of NATO’s military committee from 2015 to 2018, beat populist billionaire Andrej Babis in a presidential runoff.
He is due to take the oath of office on March 9 and replace Czech President Milos Zeman, who promoted friendly ties with China and Russia until Moscow invaded Ukraine in February last year.
Analysts said that Pavel’s approach would be very different from Zeman’s with a strong pro-Western drive focusing on ties with the EU and NATO.
Pavel, a staunch supporter of war-torn Ukraine and of its bid to join the EU, talked to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy by telephone on Sunday.
In an interview with the Czech Radio, Pavel said he would support his nation’s links with Taiwan, a major investor in the Czech Republic.
Prague officially pursues a “one China” policy, like the EU, but Czech officials foster close ties with Taiwan.
Pavel said the “one China” policy should be supplemented with a “two system” principle.
“There is nothing wrong if we have specific relations with Taiwan, which is the other system,” Pavel said. “It is definitely in our interest to retain active business and maybe also scientific relations with Taiwan.”
The Presidential Office on Sunday said that Tsai had offered her congratulations to Pavel on his victory.
Asked about Tsai reportedly having the call with Pavel, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday said that all dialogues and friendships with democratic nations or other countries are welcome.
Taipei has sought to bolster its relations with European nations by stressing the shared values of freedom and democracy, especially as Beijing ratchets up its threats.
Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil visited Taiwan in 2020 and declared himself to be Taiwanese in a speech at the legislature in Taipei, channeling late US president John F. Kennedy’s defiance of communism in Berlin in 1963.
Additional reporting by Chen Yun and Lin Liang-sheng
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS