(TibetanReview.net, Oct29, 2014) – Czech President Miloš Zeman has been accused of having tried hard to please China by expressing submission to its will on the issues of Tibet and Taiwan without any guarantee that this will yield appreciable economic benefits for his country. Concluding his official visit on Oct 27, Zeman assured his hosts that his country respected China’s integrity, and did not recognize Tibet’s government in exile, reported radio.cz/en Oct 27.
China’s official Xinhua news agency Oct 27 also cited Zeman as saying his government firmly supported China’s stance on Taiwan, Tibet and other issues.
And the radio.cz/en report said Zeman had even assured China that his government would push for visa-free travel for all Chinese citizens to the EU, an assurance with patently no prospect of success, as the report pointed out.
The report said leading Czech sinologist Olga Lomová was sceptical about the potential economic benefits of Mr Zeman’s visit. It quoted her as saying: “It is very interesting that ever since the Czech government started talking about the importance of improving relations with China, we have not seen any concrete data or numbers. It has always been a very general talk about the necessity of an improvement. We know that many Czech businesses were successful in China even before these efforts started.”
Lomová has expressed regret that the government seemed to have abandoned the human rights accent in its policy towards China, which was one strong position it had in negotiating with the latter.
Describing her country as a proud example of a successful democratization of a communist regime, she has said that by abandoning the heritage of the Velvet Revolution and Václav Havel, the Czech Republic weakens itself as a negotiation partner.
The first Czech head of state’s visit to China in nearly a decade took place from Oct 24 to 27.