Czech president-elect angers China with call to Taiwan

Czech president-elect Petr Pavel held a telephone conversation with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday. The two leaders stressed their countries' shared values of freedom, democracy and human rights and the next Czech head of state said he hoped to meet with President Tsai in the future. He likewise expressed interest in strenghtening the partnership.

The move is reported to have angered China which is opposed to countries with which it has diplomatic ties engaging in any form of official exchange with the Taiwan authorities. Beijing said it was in touch with the Czech authorities over the matter and reminded the country that it had pledged to respect the "One-China" principle.