- Beijing is attempting to isolate Taiwan.
- Pavel will take over for pro-Chinese incumbent Milos Zeman.
- Zeman held a 45-minute video call with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
PRAGUE – China chastised Czech President-elect Petr Pavel on Tuesday for a phone call the day before with Taiwan’s president and foreign minister.
“Pavel… trampled on China’s red line,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.
“This severely interferes with China’s internal affairs and has hurt the feelings of the Chinese people,” she added.
Beijing is attempting to isolate Taiwan on the international scene by opposing countries having diplomatic contacts with Taipei.
It claims self-governed, democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, which it intends to seize one day, using force if necessary.
Beijing has urged Prague to “immediately take effective measures to eliminate the negative impact of this incident and avoid irreparable damage being sustained to China-Czech relations”, Mao said.
Pavel, who was elected president on Saturday, will take over for pro-Chinese incumbent Milos Zeman on March 9.
Earlier this month, Zeman held a 45-minute video call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he refers to as a friend, and lauded “friendly relations” between the two countries.
Pavel then called Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who congratulated him on his election victory.
“I thanked her… and I assured her that Taiwan and the Czech Republic share the values of freedom, democracy, and human rights,” Pavel said on Twitter.
“We agreed on strengthening our partnership,” added the former general, who served as head of NATO’s military committee in 2015-2018.
He expressed his desire to “meet President Tsai in person” in the future.
The call, which Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu also participated in, lasted over 15 minutes, according to the Taiwanese presidential office.
“The president… acknowledged that president-elect Pavel carries on the spirit of former Czech president (Vaclav) Havel, who respected democracy, freedom, and human rights, under which the republic was founded, and is like-minded with Taiwan,” Tsai’s office said.
Havel served as the Czech Republic’s first president from 1993 to 2003.
Before becoming president, Havel led the Velvet Revolution, which overthrew Communism in old Czechoslovakia in 1989.
Mao stated that Beijing was pressing Prague to “honestly abide by its political commitment to the One China concept,” which the European Union observes.
Pavel said in a radio interview on Sunday that the one-China policy should be supported by a “two-system” philosophy.
“There is nothing wrong if we have specific relations with Taiwan, which is the other system,” Pavel said.
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