Battle for a plane to Taiwan. Babis announces a course for Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babisz announced on Sunday that his government will pursue a pragmatic foreign policy, not a policy of values. The prime minister's opinion is related to the government's decision not to provide Senate President Milos Vystrczil with a military plane to travel to Taiwan.

– We will pursue a pragmatic foreign policy – I will visit Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan – so that our companies can conduct economic activities, not those based on values, which brought practically nothing and only harmed our companies – said Babis, defending the government's decision.

The Prime Minister also said that the policies pursued by the previous government coalition and its trips to Taiwan had ruined the interests of Czech companies in China. He added that this is also reflected in the withdrawal of Chinese investments and affects tourist traffic to the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic's political rapprochement with Taiwan began in September 2020. Senate President Vystrczil flew to Taipei, and three years later, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Marketa Pekarova Adamova, was on the island.

The actions of Czech parliamentarians were criticized by China, which treats Taiwan as a rebellious province. The Chinese embassy in Prague described them as interference in internal affairs or lack of respect for the one-China policy.

Thanks to parliamentarians traveling to Taiwan and hosting local politicians in Prague, the Czechs are a leader in developing political dialogue with Taipei. However, Prague officially recognizes the One China Policy (which assumes the recognition of the People's Republic of China as the sole Chinese state) and does not envisage establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. In the European Union, Lithuania also pursues a similar approach in its policy towards Taiwan.

The politics of values ​​in foreign policy, to which Babisz opposes pragmatism, is associated in the Czech Republic with the first president of democratic Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel. His concept of active support for human rights was referred to by the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the previous Czech government, Jan Lipavsky, and politicians of the current opposition.

From Prague Piotr Górecki (PAP)

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