Beijing Condemns Czech Senate President's Visit to Taiwan

Beijing has strongly condemned Czech senate president Milos Vystrcil’s visit to Taiwan this week, demanding “immediate and effective” measures to eliminate its negative impact.

Vystrcil, who is leading a delegation of some 40 representatives from the Czech business, academic and cultural sectors, arrived in Taiwan on Monday morning. He is set to meet the island’s leader, William Lai Ching-te, and other high-level officials before leaving on Thursday.

In strong rebukes issued on Sunday, Beijing’s embassy in the central European country said it firmly opposed “any form of official exchanges” between Taiwan and countries that maintained diplomatic ties with Beijing.

The embassy statement said Vystrcil, “in total disregard of the Czech government’s position and mainstream public opinion, insisted on visiting the Taiwan region of China again out of personal selfish gains”.

Such acts constituted serious interference in China’s internal affairs and severely infringed upon China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the embassy stressed.

It urged Prague to take “immediate and effective” measures to eliminate the “egregious impact of this erroneous act” and “maintain the overall interests of the development of China-Czech relations with concrete actions”.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the Czech Republic and the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-ruled island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.