Taiwan’s vice-president-elect courts Beijing’s anger with visit to Czech Republic – South China Morning Post Feedzy

Taiwan’s vice-president-elect, Hsiao Bi-khim, is visiting the Czech Republic on a trip that has further provoked Beijing in the wake of her stop in the United States last week.

The foreign ministry in Taipei confirmed on Tuesday that Hsiao, who will be inaugurated on May 20, is in the central European country, saying she was there to “meet friends” and “exchange views”.

Lin Jian, a spokesman for Beijing’s foreign ministry, reacted by saying “the Chinese side firmly opposes any form of official exchanges” between Taiwan and countries that have diplomatic relations with mainland China.

He told a scheduled press conference that the Czech government had recognised that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China” in various official agreements.

He warned Prague to keep its promise by “severely restraining certain individual politicians” and “take effective measures to remove the negative influence of the incident”.

Hsiao was invited by Sinopsis, a Prague-based think tank, to “deliver a speech”, according to Jeff Liu, a spokesman for Taiwan’s foreign ministry.

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“She is also there to meet friends, exchange views, and interact with them before officially assuming office,” he added.

Asked if Taiwan and the Czech Republic had any new cooperation plans, Liu said his ministry would “make public related information about the two sides at an appropriate time”.

Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party has previously confirmed that Hsiao, the former de facto ambassador to Washington, visited the United States last week. Reuters and The Wall Street Journal both reported that unnamed American officials had said she visited the US “in her personal capacity”.

Liu did not disclose details of what Hsiao had done or who she visited in the US and did not say whether she would visit any other countries in Europe.

Last week Beijing said it opposed her visit to the US “in any name or under whatever pretext” and repeated its regular attacks on her as a “diehard Taiwan independence separatist”, adding that Washington should “not arrange any form of contact” between Hsiao and US government officials.

Beijing regards Taiwan as part of China and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. The Czech Republic and US, in common with most countries, does not officially recognise Taiwan as independent but are opposed to a forcible change in the status quo.

It was initially thought that Hsiao’s visit to the Czech Republic was going to be a low-key affair – along the lines of the trip to the US – to avoid provoking Beijing. But the president of the Czech Senate, Milos Vystrcil, posted a picture of a meeting with Hsiao on X, previously Twitter, on Tuesday.

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Vystrcil led a high-profile delegation to Taipei in 2020 and declared himself as “Taiwanese” during a speech, prompting Beijing to warn he would “pay a heavy price” for his trip.

The Prague city authorities had previously cancelled a twin-city relationship with Beijing in 2019 – replacing it with Taipei – with then mayor Zdenek Hrib hitting out at mainland China as an “unreliable partner”.

Prague’s unofficial relations with Taiwan have warmed steadily in recent years, especially following the election of President Petr Pavel last year.

Weeks before his inauguration, Pavel accepted a phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, becoming the first European Union head of state to directly communicate with a Taiwanese leader.