Czech president-elect to speak to Taiwan president in diplomatic breakthrough

PRAGUE, Jan 30 — Czech President-elect Petr Pavel is because of to converse with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen now, Pavel’s spokeswoman reported, a really abnormal shift specified the deficiency of formal ties and a diplomatic coup for Taipei that is possible to anger China.

Most countries’ leaders keep away from high-amount general public interactions with Taiwan and its president, not wishing to provoke China, the world’s second largest financial state.

In 2016, US President-elect Donald Trump spoke by telephone with Tsai shortly soon after winning the election, placing off a storm of protest from Beijing.

Pavel’s spokeswoman mentioned he and Tsai have been expected to talk at 1000 GMT.

Taiwan’s presidential office environment did not immediately react to a request for comment, but claimed yesterday that Tsai experienced available her congratulations to Pavel on his victory.

Pavel, a former military main and significant Nato official who received the Czech presidential election on Saturday, will get business in early March when he will replace latest head of condition Milos Zeman, who has been acknowledged for his professional-Beijing stance.

The Czech Republic, like most nations around the world, has no official diplomatic relations with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, but the two sides have moved nearer alongside one another as Taipei seeks new mates in Jap and Central Europe.

Pavel has strongly backed Western help for Ukraine in its defence against Russia’s invasion.

Taipei has sought to bolster its relations with European international locations by stressing their shared values of flexibility and democracy, specially as Beijing ratchets up military threats to attempt and drive Taiwan to acknowledge Chinese sovereignty.

In 2020, the head of the Czech Senate visited Taiwan and declared himself to be Taiwanese in a speech at Taiwan’s parliament, channelling the late US President John F. Kennedy’s defiance of communism in Berlin in 1963. — Reuters