Taiwan’s speaker warns of Chinese ambitions in Prague, China protests
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PRAGUE (Reuters) – Taiwan parliament speaker You Si-kun warned against China’s power ambitions in a speech at the Czech parliament on Thursday in a visit drawing a rebuke from Beijing.
You said Taiwan was gaining more say internationally but that also authoritarianism was on the rise.
“I would like to speak to all our friends around the world with whom we are linked by democracy to study carefully and understand the nature of the Chinese communist regime and how to nip it in the bud,” You said in a speech to the Senate, interpreted into English.
“If we do not do so, it may cause irreparable damage to humanity in the near future,” added the speaker, who belongs to Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
The centre-right government of the Czech Republic, a European Union (EU) and NATO military alliance member, has singled Taiwan among Asian democracies to build closer relations with.
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Taiwan is a thriving democracy but China considers the island its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control.
The Chinese embassy in Prague condemned You’s visit, saying it violated sovereignty and territorial integrity of China and undermined Czech-Chinese relations.
“The Chinese side appeals to the Czech side to take seriously China’s resolute position, to keep its political commitment to one China, to stop sending wrong signals to forces striving for ‘independence of Taiwan’,” it said.
In early 2022, China suspended imports from another EU member, Lithuania, after Taiwan opened a de facto embassy in Vilnius.
Despite spats with some EU member states, China agreed on Tuesday to coordinate economic policies with the EU, liberalise trade and investment, and further open up its financial sector. But it was silent on an investment deal frozen by disputes over human rights, geopolitics and the war in Ukraine.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)