The Czech government will pursue a pragmatic foreign policy, rather than a values-based one, which has achieved virtually nothing, said PM Andrej Babis (ANO) on social media yesterday. He was writing in regards to the cabinet’s refusal to provide Senate Speaker Milos Vystrcil with a government plane for a trip to Taiwan.
Vystrcil (ODS) is planning to visit Taiwan together with Czech business representatives.
Opposition parties have criticised Babis for the refusal. Vystrcil said he would respond with a statement next week.
“We will pursue a pragmatic foreign policy,” said Babis. “I will visit Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, so that our companies can do business, not the kind of foreign policy based on values that has yielded virtually nothing and only harmed our companies.”
Vystrcil, the speaker of the Senate, plans to visit Taiwan from 31 May to 4 June. In addition to Senate representatives, he will be accompanied by a delegation organised by the Czech Confederation of Industry and the Czech-Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce. In addition to political talks, the mission will focus on activities supporting Czech-Taiwanese relations in the areas of investment, trade, university cooperation, and the development of Czech cultural diplomacy.
Babis said this trip would cost millions of crowns, and recommended that Vystrcil travel on a commercial flight.
China considers Taiwan a breakaway province, and has repeatedly criticised Czech Senate activities in support of Taiwan in the past.
“So I simply said that we did not approve an official government military aircraft for Mr. Vystrcil’s trip to Taiwan,” said Babis. “We will not follow the same policy as that pursued by (former parliamentary speaker Marketa) Pekarova Adamova (TOP 09) and Vystrcil, which destroyed our companies’ business in China. Chinese tourists aren’t coming, and there are no investments.”
Industry and Trade Minister and Deputy PM Karel Havlicek (ANO) defended the government’s move on Prima TV today, stating that the cabinet’s actions are consistent with other European countries.
“Over the past few decades, none of the top officials from major European countries have visited Taiwan,” he said.
According to Havlicek, some previous visits by Czech officials cost the Czech Republic tens of billions of crowns as a result of the deterioration of relations with China. “Relations with both China and Taiwan are important to us. But this would close the door to China for us,” Havlicek said of Vystrcil’s planned trip.
Reacting to the government’s decision, former prime minister and ODS leader Petr Fiala wrote that “even the prime minister is now displaying embarrassing narrow-mindedness in his behaviour toward the highest constitutional officials who are not part of the governing coalition. Or is there something more behind this? Is Andrej Babis perhaps trying to accommodate the People’s Republic of China?”
According to the current ODS leader, Martin Kupka, Babis is a “geopolitical chaos maker” and his refusal to provide the aircraft is “narrow-minded.” Kupka also took issue with the fact that the government wants to regulate the travel of constitutional officials.
Boris Stastny, Minister of Sport for the Motorists, stated that the government had decided unanimously. “To the extent that (Vystrcil) is harming the Czech Republic’s business interests, one can just as easily fly there on a commercial flight,” he wrote.
ODS senator and former parliamentary speaker Miroslava Nemcova said Babis was “throwing a wrench in the works of business and accelerating the Czech Republic’s departure from the world of democracy and freedom.”
“We are in a serious crisis, we must revolt,” Nemcova added, without specifying the form of the revolt.
KDU-CSL leader Marek Vyborny said the refusal was mean. “This is not just about our relationship with Taiwan, but also about a large business delegation to our important trading partner,” he wrote, adding that Babis has demonstrated his economic diplomacy in practice.
China has repeatedly criticised Senate activities in support of Taiwan. In the past, its embassy in Prague objected to various Senate resolutions, labeling them as interference in internal affairs or a failure to respect the “One China” principle. Vystrcil first visited Taiwan in September 2020, accompanied by representatives of 36 Czech companies focused primarily on modern and advanced technologies. Although Babis was leading his first coalition government at the time, the senators and businesspeople travelled on a government plane.
Vystrcil thus carried out a trip that had already been planned by his late predecessor as Senate speaker, Jaroslav Kubera (ODS), much to the displeasure of President Milos Zeman and despite warnings from the Chinese regime. According to Vystrcil, the trip was driven by the need to prioritise the values and principles upon which the Czech Republic is founded over short-term economic interests.
“Either we stick to our principles and values, or we’ll be counting pennies,” Vystrcil said at the time. Zeman subsequently stopped inviting Vystrcil to meetings of constitutional officials on foreign policy.
