Because Pavel’s phone call to Taiwan is historic

1 February 20231 year ago babelfish

The new president of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, was the first European head of state to communicate directly with the president of Taiwan. Here are details, context and reactions from China

Historic phone call between newly elected Czech president Petr Pavel and Taiwanese colleague Tsai Ing-wen, with whom – breaking a long-standing protocol according to which relations with the island must remain informal – Pavel became the first European head of state to communicate directly and officially with the highest authority in Taipei.

Pavel's words

As reported by the Taipei Times , it was Tsai's spokesperson Lin Yu-chan who revealed that the call between the two presidents, which was also attended by Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, lasted fifteen minutes and took place "in a 'harmonious atmosphere'.

According to Lin, Pavel would have said that Taiwan is "a reliable partner", adding that the Czech Republic positions itself firmly "on the side of democracy" and supports Taiwan in "maintaining a vital democratic system, free from authoritarian coercion".

Prague, the new president underlined, aims to "strengthen cooperation with Taiwan on all fronts".

Pavel therefore, reports Deutsche Welle , "expressed the hope of having the opportunity to meet President Tsai in person in the future".

The tweet of the new president

At the end of the call, Pavel himself made his recent contact known to the world via Twitter:

Today, I spoke with the president of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen. I thanked her for her congratulations and I assured her that Taiwan and the Czech Republic share the values of freedom, democracy, and human rights. We agreed on strengthening our partnership.

— Peter Pavel (@general_pavel) January 30, 2023

"Today I spoke with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen," tweeted the former NATO commander. “I thanked her for her congratulations and assured her that Taiwan and the Czech Republic share the values of freedom, democracy and human rights. We have agreed to strengthen our partnership."

Tsai's words

As reported by Reuters , the presidential office of Taiwan has issued a statement in which it summarizes the contents of the conversation between Tsai and Pavel.

"The bilateral relationship between Taiwan and the Czech Republic," Tsai allegedly said, "are close and excellent."

Tsai therefore, Deutsche Welle points out, compared Pavel to his predecessor Vaclav Havel "who respected democracy, freedom and human rights".

Based on what she called "cordial ties" between the two countries, the president called for "a deepening of exchanges and cooperation in key areas, including semiconductor design, the cultivation of talent in advanced technologies and the restructuring of productive".

The next day, that is yesterday, the Taiwanese government relaunched Pavel's idea of a face-to-face meeting with Tsai. In particular, Foreign Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu released a note, reported by Focus Taiwan , which stresses that the executive "will do its best to support anything that can deepen the partnership between Taiwan and the Czech Republic".

Beijing's reaction

According to Reuters , the Chinese Foreign Ministry would have tried to prevent contact between the two presidents through explicit solicitations addressed to the Prague authorities.

"The Chinese side", is the note issued by the Ministry, "is currently seeking verifications with the Czech side" of the latter's intention to conduct the phone call

When, a few hours later, it found itself faced with a fait accompli, the same Ministry released another note in which it underlined how China "opposes the fact that the countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations carry on in any form official exchanges with the Taiwanese authorities”. The dicastery then recalled that during the electoral campaign Pavel "had openly said that the principle of one China should be respected".

Change of course in the Czech Republic

The recent election of Pavel to the highest seat therefore marks a change of pace for the Czech Republic, whose centre-right government, Reuters recalls, aims to strengthen cooperation with Taiwan and with other Indo-Pacific countries within the framework of that which is defined as a "revision" of relations with China.

They are probably destined to remain as a memory Pavel's predecessor, Milos Zeman, reaffirmed his "friendly" relationship with Xi Jinping on the phone.

Moreover, the appeal of when, three years ago, the President of the Senate visited Taipei where he gave a speech in which, with Kennedian echo, he defined himself as "a Taiwanese".

Pavel intends to move along this path: as he declared in an interview with Czech public radio, recalled by the Taipei Times , the one China policy makes no sense if it is not accompanied by the reference to "two systems".

“There is nothing wrong were Pavel's words, “if we cultivate specific relations with Taiwan, that is the other system”.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/petr-pavel-taiwan/ on Wed, 01 Feb 2023 07:21:03 +0000.