Czech Senate President Miloš Vystrčil led the delegation visit to Taiwan which includes the Mayor of Prague Zdeněk Hřib. This marks the highest-level diplomatic exchange between the two countries that have no formal diplomatic ties. During his visit to Germany, State Councillor and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke bluntly and criticized the Czech delegation as a “public provocation” backed by anti-China forces, and that the Czech Senate will pay a heavy price for this. Studying the European Union (EU) and China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) reveals that the Western European countries, Greece and Italy, and the Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC), Hungary and the Czech Republic, are the countries that are quite enthusiastic about the program.

Since the current President of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman came to power in 2013, the timing coincided with the Czech Republic joining the BRI and a profound improvement in the relations between the two countries. The breakthrough in the relations was marked by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s historic three-day state visit to the Czech Republic in March 2016. The Czech ambassador to China Libor Sečka then declared that he was ready to actively engage in the BRI. The Czech Republic claimed that in addition to contributing to bilateral cooperation projects, it also intends to assist China to develop ties with other EU countries on a national level through the “16+1” initiative, which is the cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (China-CEEC). The relation between the Czech Republic and China seems to be in a honeymoon period, so why would it deteriorate to a state of hitting rock bottom? Why did the Czech Republic make the daring move to go against the “One China” policy that its government has been pursuing since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and the independence of the Czech Republic in 1993 and embrace Taiwan instead?

The economic and trade investment cooperation between the Czech Republic and China since 2014 has witnessed rapid development like riding on a roller coaster. China has become the Czech Republic’s second-largest trading partner for several consecutive years. The number of Chinese tourists visiting the Czech Republic has increased sharply. The export of Czech automobiles to China has created employment opportunities for the Czech Republic. The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly promote the BRI during the fourth 16+1 China-CEEC cooperation platform summit that took place in November 2015. This is the first MOU signed between China and a CEEC. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the Czech Republic in March 2016, and then during the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in May 2017, the two countries signed the “Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.” On Sep. 30th of the same year, Trans-Eurasia Logistics launched cargo train services between Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, and Czech capital Prague. China even regarded 2017 as the “Belt and Road Czech Year” and pushed the Sino-Czech relations to a climax.

There will always be a downslope after a climax. According to the analysis of “Foreign Policy”, an American news publication, in 2018, China originally promised huge investments in CEFC China Energy but the company ended up in default and eventually bankruptcy. In other words, China has been slow in delivering on its promises as China’s investment falls through. In the same year, when Huawei was exposed for disclosing confidential financial and shareholding information to the Chinese government, the Chinese tech company was subsequently encircled by multiple nations. In December 2018, the Czech Republic ordered the cabinet office to prohibit the use of Huawei products. In this regard, the Czech Republic’s recoil of funding commitments in 2018 has become a watershed of its turning point. Thereafter, the commercial cooperation agency of the “Czech Belt and Road Initiative Center” was declared shut down in September 2019, illustrating the Czech Republic’s disintegration in the BRI. The Czech-China relations further deteriorated in 2020 after the sudden passing of the Czech Republic’s former senate leader Jaroslav Kubera.

The result of the Czech Republic in the BRI did not accord with the original commitments and agreements. The failure of the initiative made it difficult for the pro-China Czech President to “wrestle” against the opposition camp. Furthermore, the EU’s current vigilance towards the 16+1 China-CEEC cooperation platform and the backing of the US behind the CEEC have gained ascendancy. In addition, China’s economic sanctions against the Czech Republic are unlikely to pose a threat. According to an economic expert from Charles University in Prague, even in the worst-case scenario, the Czech GDP will only drop by 1%.

The various factors boosted the Czech’s courage in defying China. Will other European countries subsequently follow suit to trigger a chain reaction? At present, CEEC such as Romania and Estonia have just fallen through in the BRI. Is that an opportunity for Taiwan to step forward? It is worthwhile to wait and see.

(Chang Meng-Jen, Director and Associate Professor of the Department of Italy Language and Culture at the Fu Jen Catholic University, and Convenor of Diplomacy and International Affairs Program)

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