Taiwan president’s speech to launch this year’s Forum 2000 conference

This year’s annual Forum 2000 conference is set to start with a speech by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, the organisers tweeted on Friday. The conference will launch on Monday and the Taiwanese president’s speech will precede a panel discussing human rights abuses in China.


Ties between the Czech Republic and Taiwan have been warm in the recent past, mainly thanks to the visit of Senate Speaker Miloš Vystrčil to the country in September.


The trip had originally been planned by the previous speaker Jaroslav Kubera, who was unable to realise his plans due to dying suddenly in January. He was awarded the Order of Propitious Clouds with Special Grand Cordon posthumously by President Tsai Ing-wen when the Czech delegation visited Taiwan.


Unusually, the Forum 2000 conference will be virtual this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the Taiwanese president will not be speaking physically from Prague itself.