On the morning of the 28th, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Czech Republic, Adamova, wore a red suit and led a delegation to visit the Legislative Yuan. The President of the Legislative Yuan, Yu Xikun, led the ruling and opposition legislators to greet her, and awarded the first-class congressional medal to thank the Czech Republic for its firm support for Taiwan.

(Photographed by reporter Luo Peide)

[Central News Agency] Czech scholar Fu Xianyi wrote an analysis today that the Czech government has a high degree of consensus on the visit to Taiwan by Speaker of the House of Representatives Adamova.

He judged that China would not retaliate against the Czech Republic.

Filip Šebok, an expert on China issues at the Czech think tank "Association of International Affairs" (AMO), said that the largest delegation in the history of Taiwan-Czech relations led by Markéta Pekarová Adamová was accompanied by six members of parliament, each from the coalition government. The five political parties and the largest opposition party have representation across the ruling and opposition parties, and include the chairman of the foreign affairs and defense committees.

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In addition, members of the delegation included representatives from the economic, cultural, academic circles, and local governments. Even the heads of the Czech intelligence agencies and cyber security agencies also accompanied the delegation to visit Taiwan. Build relationships at various levels.

He published the article "The Speaker of the Czech House of Representatives Arrives in Taiwan and Sets a Mission" in the expert organization "China Observer in Central and Eastern Europe" (CHOICE) today, comparing the visits of Senate Speaker Milo? Vystr?il and Adamova to Taiwan in August 2020. The difference pointed out that neither the Czech president nor the government supported the former visit to Taiwan. On the other hand, there was a high degree of consensus within the government this time, and all officials were dispatched. Even President Petr Pavel endorsed and sent members of the military department of the presidential palace to accompany him.

The Czech Chamber of Deputies created a dedicated webpage for Adamova's visit to Taiwan, titled "Taiwan Mission", which is quite an unusual hype.

Fu Xianyi pointed out that in recent years, representatives of the Czech Republic and Taiwan have frequently exchanged visits, and the level has gradually increased. Adamova's visit to Taiwan this time is obviously a diplomatic action of symbolic significance.

For example, Adamova explained the reason for her visit that "the friendship between the Czech Republic and Taiwan is based on freedom, democracy and human rights, which authoritarian countries will never understand".

To say this is like directly challenging the relationship between the Czech Republic and China, which is in line with what Czech politicians often refer to when referring to Taiwan.

However, in addition to the symbolic level, economic and trade cooperation is the focus of promoting bilateral relations. Fu Xianyi said that the Czech Republic was disappointed with its cooperation with China in the past, and Taiwan will inevitably be compared with China.

He pointed out that, especially in the high-tech field, the Czech Republic has expectations for the prospect of cooperation with Taiwan. The question is whether Taiwan can meet certain excessive expectations. If not, expectations may turn into disappointment.

Will the Czech Republic face retaliation from China as it deepens ties with Taiwan?

The possibility of Fu Xianyi's judgment is not high, because Beijing's role in the Russia-Ukraine war has been questioned, and China is unwilling to further damage its relationship with the European Union.

Another factor is that China's economic coercion measures against Lithuania after Lithuania deepened its relationship with Taiwan may not necessarily apply to the Czech Republic.

After all, the Czech Republic has a much larger economy than Lithuania and has close ties to Germany, so the political and economic costs to China will be higher.

Expanding his vision to the world, Fu Xianyi believes that the significance of the visit to Taiwan by the Speaker of the Czech House of Representatives is that Taiwan has begun to develop relations with democratic partners, and will no longer be tied down by money diplomacy or suspicious regimes that undermine dignity. China is in the race to isolate Taiwan diplomatically. To a certain extent, it encourages Taiwan to be more hands-off.