Czech Foreign Minister Says Recommended Senior Lawmaker To Avoid Visiting Taiwan

Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek said on Wednesday commenting on a recent diplomatic row with China that the Foreign Ministry had recommended Czech upper house's speaker Milos Vystrcil to avoid visiting Taiwan

PRAGUE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd September, 2020) Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek said on Wednesday commenting on a recent diplomatic row with China that the Foreign Ministry had recommended Czech upper house's speaker Milos Vystrcil to avoid visiting Taiwan.

Earlier this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi condemned a recent visit of Vystrcil to Taiwan heading a delegation of 90 people, adding that the Chinese government and people do not find it acceptable and will make sure Vystrcil faces consequences for his "short-sighted act and political risky action." Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis described that statement as inappropriate, and the country's Foreign Ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador telling him that such language runs contrary to standard practices of diplomatic conversation between two sovereign nations.

"The government is responsible for foreign policy. I did not recommend this trip," Petricek said as aired by iDNES.tv broadcaster.

At the same time, the minister stressed that the visit to Taiwan is a political decision of the upper house of parliament and does not reflect the country's foreign policy.

According to the constitution, the speaker of the upper house is the second person in the political hierarchy of the republic after the president.

Prague officially adheres to the "one China" policy.

"This trip does not change anything in our foreign policy, the government does not intend to revise it ... We are interested in conducting a pragmatic dialogue on cooperation with China," Petricek added.

Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan a territory with its own democratically elected government maintains that it is an autonomous country and has political and economic relations with several other nations that recognize its sovereignty. Beijing vociferously denies its independence as it sees itself as the only legitimate political representative of the Chinese people anywhere.