Despite Chinese pressure, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has welcomed a big Czech delegation to the island. This is good news for Taipei since its former friend Honduras shifted allegiance to Beijing. Chinese-claimed Taiwan has lost another diplomatic ally after Honduras cut ties on Sunday, bringing the total number of countries with diplomatic ties to the island to 13. Nevertheless, US allies like the Czech Republic have been increasing support for the democratic island despite only formally recognizing China.
On Saturday, Marketa Pekarova Adamova, speaker of the lower house of the Czech parliament, led a team of around 150 people to Taipei. Tsai met with Pekarova Adamova in the presidential office and made a cryptic allusion to Chinese criticism of her visit by saying that she had come to Taiwan despite “huge pressure.” “We can become staunch allies with each other on the road to maintaining democracy and freedom,” she continued, “since Taiwan and the Czech Republic have both been through authoritarian rule and truly realize that democracy has not arrived lightly.”
Strong allies
The Czech Republic and Taiwan, as Pekarova Adamova assured Tsai, are reliable allies. Freedom, democracy, and the defense of human rights are at the top of our list of shared values and ideals. She firmly said, “No one can force us to violate these rights.” Minister for the Economy Wang Mei-hua told reporters during a Taiwan-Czech business meeting that the appearance of the Czech team and the date of the Honduras announcement were unrelated events, but that the latter was nevertheless significant.
She remarked that “Taiwan is undoubtedly in a democratic alliance” after the delegation’s visit. Petr Pavel, the newly elected president of the Czech Republic, took a call from Tsai in January, earning a stern condemnation from Beijing and marking a distinct departure from his predecessor’s efforts to lure Chinese companies. In 2020, Senate Speaker Milos Vystrcil also visited Taiwan, therefore Pekarova Adamova is following in his footsteps.
