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Vystrčil: Chinese “high price” comment interference in Czech affairs

The speaker of the Czech Senate, Miloš Vystrčil, says he regrets a statement by the Chinese minister of foreign affairs, Wang Yi, who said on Monday that Mr. Vystrčil would “pay a high price” for visiting Taiwan, a move that breaches Beijing’s “One China” policy.

The Czech politician, who is leading a delegation of 90 in Taiwan, said the comment represented interference in Czech domestic affairs.

The Czech minister of foreign affairs, Tomáš Petříček, said he would this week summon the Chinese ambassador to Prague to explain Mr. Wang’s statement. Mr. Petříček said the language used went beyond the conventions of diplomacy.

A spokesperson for Czech President Miloš Zeman said the Czech delegation’s visit to Taiwan had sparked controversy and worsened the international political standing of the country.

Hundreds of ancient Egyptian artefacts, which have never before left Cairo, go on display in Prague on Monday, within an exhibition showcasing treasures unearthed by Czech archaeologists in Egypt over the past 100 years.

The exhibition “Kings of the Sun” was organized by the National Museum in Prague in cooperation with the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Visitors can admire treasures from the 3rd to the 1st millennium BC, such as the statue of King Raneferef, one of four pharaohs buried in Abusir, or an extensive collection of priceless artefacts and statues from the tombs of Princess Sheretnebty and the scribe Nefer.

The artefacts were loaned by the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the Great Egyptian Museum in Giza, but also by museums in Berlin, Leipzig, Hanover, Heidelberg, and Frankfurt.

Schools around the country are preparing for the start of the school year on September 1.

Education Minister Robert Plaga told Prima Television on Sunday that up to ten schools would not open on the first day of the school year because staff members were in quarantine.

Schools are expected to adhere to stricter hygiene norms in connection with the coronavirus crisis, but no restrictions have been ordered for the present time.

In Prague, which is rated “medium-risk”, face-masks in schools are recommended but it is up to individual schools whether they will make them compulsory.

An official delegation from the Czech Republic, headed by Senate speaker Miloš Vystrčil, arrived in Taiwan on Sunday on a six-day visit aimed at strengthening economic and cultural ties between the two states. The delegation of 90 officials includes Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib, a number of senators, around 40 business leaders and academics.

In the course of the visit the Czech Senate speaker will meet with President Tsai Ing-wen, the country’s prime minister, lawmakers and several members of cabinet. He is also scheduled to speak in Taiwan’s Parliament and at Chengchi University in Taipei. Vystrčil will also receive a Congressional Diplomacy Honorary Medal making him the first legislative head from a country with which Taiwan has no diplomatic relations to receive the honor.

The visit has elicited severe criticism from China and some politicians on the domestic scene who say it goes against the country’s official foreign policy line which acknowledges the policy of “One China“.