Senate chair Vystrčil says he is not opposed to Taiwan visit

The freshly appointed leader of the Czech upper house Miloš Vystrčil says that he is not opposed to a visit to Taiwan, but stressed that such a trip would first have to be discussed with experts. Answering questions ahead of his election, Mr Vystrčil said that as the leader of the Civic Democrats’ senate club and chair of the upper house, his priority will always be to defend the status of the Czech Republic as a country that defends human rights and freedoms, news site Aktuálně.cz reports.

The question was put to the candidates after Aktuálně.cz published excerpts of a letter sent by the Chinese Embassy to the previous senate chair, Jaroslav Kubera, ahead of his planned trip to Taiwan. In it, China warns that leading Czech companies’ business interests would suffer if the visit went ahead.