To Taiwan, the high-profile visit paid by Miloš Vystrčil, Czech President of the Senate, means a lot for sure, not lease his remark, “I am Taiwanese”, at the end of his speech delivered at the Legislative Yuan that struck the right chord and boosted the morale of Taiwanese. His visit actually carries three implications beyond Taiwan’s diplomatic breakthrough that can be analysed against the backdrop of Sino-U.S. confrontations, the big picture of current international affairs.

First and foremost, it is about a change in the direction of political winds in Czech. As everyone knows, Czech President Miloš Zeman has been pro-CCP(Chinese Communist Party) for long, which has aroused bitter controversy internally, beyond doubt, in a country with a long history of fighting communist totalitarianism. On the other hand, President of the Senate Vystrčil is one of the representatives of the domestic anti-CCP forces. His predecessor Jiří Růžička, former President of the Senate who intended to pay a visit to Taiwan in February, passed away all of a sudden on January 20. According to his wife, he received a letter from the Chinese embassy in Czech that pressured him a lot. Though pro-CCP President Zeman is the supreme leader of Czech, the whole nation was enraged at the death of Růžička.

Vystrčil’s visiting mission comprised Zdeněk Hřib, a heavy-weight hardline anti-CCP politician, as well as important businessmen, intellectuals and academics. Besides political issues, economic collaborations were also discussed in meetings. In fact that was already a state visit that challenged incumbent President Zeman, which suggests that the pro-CCP policy adopted by Czech President backfires severely. Signs of pro-CCP forces of Czech, a bridgehead in the Eastern Europe painstakingly built by China, being crushed from inside the country has loomed large.

Furthermore, it is about a change in the stance of the European Union(EU) towards China. Being a political community, the EU has been attaching great importance to consistency of its diplomatic policy for long. It is hardly possible for Vystrčil, an important political figure of a European country, not to communicate to and deliberate with the EU internally such a profoundly important diplomatic move beforehand. Without acquiescence and support from EU major members, he could not have embarked on the journey. Not long before, during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Europe, no sooner had he overtly threatened Czech than he met backlashes from EU countries against his remarks. In light of this, what lied behind the curtain was EU countries tested the waters with Czech’s visit while laying out adjustment to their policy on China.

In his speech made in Taiwan, Vystrčil strongly believed high-ranking officials from other democratic countries and the EU would call on Taiwan in the offing, which was for sure not a declaration unilaterally made by him on behalf of other countries of the EU, but remarks grounded on something he was confident in. It clearly suggests that the visit has signalled to a great extent a consensus on EU policy on China has been reached internally.

Thirdly, clout of the U.S. was behind the event. Before the visit, U.S. State Secretary Pompeo paid a call to Czech, the first stop in his trip in Europe, and made a speech at the Senate of Czech, the home turf of Vystrčil’s. He mentioned Taiwan time and again in his articulation, and said he knew Vystrčil was going to Taiwan, as well as lauding the plan. Knowing both Czech President and Prime Minister were against Vystrčil’s move, Pompeo went so far as to put forward his hardline stance for it, which was definitely crucial to promoting Vystrčil’s making a resolve to set off his journey to Taiwan.

It is even reasonable to surmise that the U.S has pledged political support for the pro-U.S. and anti-CCP forces in Czech and other Eastern European countries. Vystrčil pointed out in his speech at the National Chengchi University that democracies should hold together to safeguard freedom and democracy, which was in the same vein with Pompeo’s remarks on U.S. policy towards China on July 23, 2020, at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. U.S. clout over the event is clearly shown. In other words, the U.S. is coming up with something big against the CCP, and Eastern European countries are the important part of the plan, by which the U.S. tries to break through the line of defence set up by China.

Grasping the three implications beyond Taiwan’s vision, we can see that though Taiwan is small in size, it has been put in a big chess game of international politics. With regard to establishing a safety net to defend national interests against the backdrop of a global zero-sum game, Taiwan has chanced upon a good opportunity.

(Wang Dan is founder of the think tank Dialogue China.)

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