January 1 this year, Jaroslav Kubera, former President of the Senate of the Czech Republic, passed away. He intended to pay a visit to Taiwan but his plan was opposed by the President and Prime Minister of the country. China also made representations about it and threats against Czech. Though the tension has since been mounting, Miloš Vystrčil, incumbent Senate President and comrade of Kubera’s in the same political party, continued the work bequeathed by the deceased to touch down in Taiwan with his visiting mission, taking Taiwan- Czech relations to a new level.

The remark - “pay a price” - made by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi backfired with backlash from the Czech government and other European countries against it. Following the U.S., Europe’s attitude has been hardening. Czech’s visiting mission calling in on Taiwan is not an individual case separated from the changing attitude of Europe towards China. I am going to put forward some observation upon this incident.

According to the research of Czech’s local academics, in the early 2000s, the Chamber of Deputies(lower house) of Czech Parliament took a positive and friendly attitude towards China, holding the view that the human rights issue of China could be neglected when considering the economic benefits the government gained from the that country. Over the past few years, criticisms made by the Parliament against China have been increasing. Not only has the human rights issue been queried, but concerns over the espionage of China in Czech that jeopardizes national security of the latter have also been raised. The discontent among the country with China governing Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong by tyranny has started to prevail.

Among all political parties in the country, the Civic Democratic Party, to which both the former and incumbent Presidents of the Senate of Czech belong, has made the most criticisms of China, which has given prominence to the difference between the party and the incumbent President Miloš Zeman’s administration, which is economy-focused and pro-Beijing.

According to the study announced by Pew Research Center on the impression of China on people from around the world, its favorability among the Czech people was only 27%, nearly the lowest among those in European countries. It would go even lower with the impact of Wuhan pneumonia. In the short term, if the political parties in Czech aspire to being in power, they cannot steer clear of the issue of how they pilot the country through in the face of China’s uprising, and are obliged to make their stances on China crystal clear, be it anti or pro. Being a leader of an opposition party against a pro-China government, Vystrčil might be able to help putting his party at the helm in the future with his visit to Taiwan, which has allayed the discontent in Czech’s society with China.

Luring Europe by economic benefits and the Belt and Road initiative is China’s best weapon, which is also the rudiment of President Zeman’s pro-China course. Nonetheless, Czech-China economic relations are loose and unhealthy. Czech is not highly dependent on China trade, which only accounts for 2%(Czech does not sell a lot to China) of Czech’s total export. However, it has the most unfavorable balance of trade with China(Czech buys a lot from China), with the deficit up to more than USD16 billion. Its trade balance with Poland is the second runner up, with the deficit reaching about USD 4 billion, which is one-quarter of the deficit with China. Besides, China is also not the major source of its foreign investment, while its most important economic partners are European countries in the neighbourhood. As such, though strengthening its economic relationship with China is tantalizing, it is still a money-losing proposition, actually a burden, for the time being.

Moreover, to the West, the bid for maintaining the separation between political and economic realms and the hope for pushing forward China’s political reform with economic collaborations are almost crushed. Early last year, to make representations about the mayor of Prague, a “fan of Taiwan”, supporting Taiwan,  China cancelled Czech Philharmonic’s renditions in China; early this year, China threatened to impose sanctions on Škoda Auto’s investment in China for former President of the Senate of Czech planning to visit Taiwan; China has also time and again wielded trade penalty for European countries welcoming Dalai Lama. What’s more, it prohibited Norwegian salmon from being imported after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Liu Xiabo in Norway.

While China is interrupting economic exchange on end, strengthening bilateral relations with Taiwan is not only a resistance to the economic threats made by China, but also psychologically a redemption of democratic societies.

Lastly, with more severe U.S-China confrontation in sight, Washington has started to call on its allies to take sides between freedom and tyranny. There is a military agreement signed by Czech, U.S.’s important military ally in Europe, and the U.S. that allows U.S. military deployment in the former. Since China invited European countries to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in 2016, Czech is among the few that has been siding with the U.S., and has not yet joined any international establishment advocated by China. Czech is also one of the countries whose stances are closest to that of the U.S. on international affairs at conferences of the United Nations

When U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo was visiting Czech in August, he openly showed support for Vystrčil’s visit to Taiwan. Czech’s pro-Taiwan force is feedback to the U.S. about its recruitment for fighting China.

To conclude, since European societies have started to query China, being pro-china or anti-China is already part of the political agendas in Europe. The countries that are not economically dependent on China, even contributing to negative economic relations(trade deficit), and in terms of strategic cooperation, wanting in the protection from the U.S., are more capable of getting rid of the economic threats made by China, and come forward to work with the U.S. to fight the threats and lures put forward by China. Since for the time being, Taiwan-U.S. relations are the cornerstone of U.S. fighting China, Taiwan stands a good chance of taking its relations with European countries to a brand new level.

(Ian Tsung-yen Chen , Associate Professor at the Institute of Political Science of the National Sun Yat-sen University)

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