Key figures in the Czech political arena have publicly expressed their support for Taiwan. From left are Senate Speaker Vedzi, President-elect Pavel, Speaker of the House of Representatives Adamova, and Prime Minister Fiala.

(Taken from Fiala Twitter)

[Reporter Yang Chengyu/Report from Taipei] Czech President-elect Petr Pavel had a telephone conversation with Chinese President Tsai Ing-wen a few days ago, becoming the first European head of state and attracting global attention.

In response to this, Lída Rakušanová, a senior Czech journalist who was once the president of the European Journalists Association, wrote an article on Czech Radio that Pavel continued the leadership of the late former Czech president Vaclav Havel and the current president of the Senate. People like Miloš Vystrčil and Prime Minister Petr Fiala have a proud Czech tradition of "doing the right thing".

Lagushanova mentioned that just a few weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 last year, Fiala traveled to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, which was bombed.

Asked by reporters after returning home why she put herself in danger, Fiala responded: "Just because it's the right thing to do." She pointed out that Fiala and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, the then Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša

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As a pioneer, almost all leaders of Western countries rushed to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Despite the risks of Russian aggression, it is now commonplace to travel to Ukraine to express support in person, simply because it is the right thing to do.

For the same reason, Lagusanova pointed out that Vedzi set off to visit Taiwan on August 29, 2020 and became the highest-level serving European politician to visit Taiwan in modern history, not only because Taiwan is an important economic partner of the Czech Republic, but also because In order to show that the Czech Republic is a free, democratic and sovereign country.

As Vedzi said in the Czech Congress Hall, we must defend the basic values ​​and principles on which we live, such as the rule of law, freedom and sovereignty.

Similarly, Pavel tweeted after the phone call with Tsai Ing-wen: "I know China has restrictions on this, but the Czech Republic is a sovereign country and we are doing what we think is right."

The same is true for Havel's invitation to the Dalai Lama to visit what was then Czechoslovakia in 1990, Ragusanova said.

Many people said back then that China would settle accounts with the Czech Republic; however, on the contrary, meeting the Dalai Lama has now become a classic for politicians in many democratic countries.

She is happy to see that after Javier, Vedzi and Fiala, Pavel has also continued this tradition that the Czech Republic can be proud of.

Lagusanova fled abroad after the "Prague Spring" in 1968, sought political asylum in Germany the following year, and began to participate in exile activities.

Later, Lagushanova worked at Radio Free Europe, and also read books banned by the Communist Party to listeners on the program.

In the late 1980s, her voice became a symbol of free Czechoslovakia.

After the democratization of the Czech Republic, she worked in Czech TV, the German Daily Mirror, the Swiss Financial Society and other media.

In 1993, she was awarded the "European Women's Award" by the European Union. In 2000, she was awarded the Jan Palach Award (Annotation: Representative of the Prague Spring). Last year, she was awarded the Silver Medal of the President of the Czech Senate.

From October 2004 to October of the following year, she served as President of the European Journalists Association.

Czech President-elect Pavel.

(Taken from Pavel Twitter)