Beijing Voices Strong Opposition To Czech President-Elect's Phone Call With Taiwan's Head

China condemns Czech President-elect Petr Pavel's phone conversation with Taiwan's leader Tsai Ing-wen for seeking to boost ties with the island, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 31st January, 2023) China condemns Czech President-elect Petr Pavel's phone conversation with Taiwan's leader Tsai Ing-wen for seeking to boost ties with the island, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Tuesday.

On Monday, Pavel held a telephone conversation with the Taiwanese leader, during which he expressed his support for the island, seeking to deepen bilateral cooperation in all areas.

"This is a blatant violation of the Czech Republic's political commitment to the one-China principle and sends a wrong signal to the 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces. China deplores and strongly opposes this and we have made solemn démarche to the Czech side," Mao told a briefing.

The spokeswoman called on the Czech Republic to "take immediate and effective measures to correct the wrongdoing," eliminate the negative consequences of the incident, as well as respect the one-China principle.

On Sunday, Pavel told the Czech Radio broadcaster that he did not want the upcoming conversation with Taiwan's leader to do more harm than good. However, in his opinion, the one-China principle should be supplemented with a "two-system" principle. Pavel also noted that there was nothing wrong with his country's specific relationship with Taiwan. The president-elect added that Taiwan was the developer of a number of exclusive technologies, so it is in the Czech Republic's interest to retain active business and scientific relations with the island.

Pavel, a 61-year-old retired Czech army general and former chair of the NATO Military Committee, scored a landslide victory in the Czech Republic's presidential election on Saturday. He will assume office on March 9.