Vystrčil tells Taiwan parliament “I am a Taiwanese”

The president of the Taiwanese parliament, Yu Shyi-kun, has presented the speaker of the Czech Senate, Miloš Vystrčil, with a medal for his services to parliamentary democracy. Mr. Vystrčil ended his acceptance speech at the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday with the words “I am a Taiwanese”, in a deliberate echo of John F. Kennedy’s defiance of communism in Berlin in 1963.

China’s foreign minister had earlier said that the Czech Senate chairman would “pay a high price” for visiting Taiwan in breach of Beijing’s One China policy.

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

The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Chinese ambassador to Prague to explain the statement.