Direct News: What do you interpret the Czech parliament Senate Chairman Westchil's unremitting visit to Taiwan despite China's firm opposition?
Special Commentator Liu Heping : I noticed that for this visit, the Tsai Ing-wen administration tried its best to maximize its marginal effect, and even racked its brains to discover several "firsts". For example, this is the first time that the Senate Speaker, who is second only to the president in the Czech Republic, has visited Taiwan since 1989. Westchil is the first so-called "non-diplomatic" speaker to speak in Taiwan's legislature in the past 45 years, and is also the first European Parliament speaker to visit Taiwan since the end of the Cold War.
The Czech delegation also knew the thoughts of the Tsai Ing-wen authorities very well, and tried to do their best to do their superficial articles and skills, including as many as 89 delegations sent, and the masks worn by each representative were printed with patterns of highly political symbolic significance, etc.
I believe everyone has noticed that some time ago, in the game in the field of foreign affairs between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, the mainland was basically the active, while the Tsai Ing-wen administration was in a passive state of being beaten and passively defending, which means that they could only consolidate their so-called "diplomatic relations" in a hurry.
Then, The visit of Czech Senate Chairman Westchil this time means that in the foreign affairs battle between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, the Tsai Ing-wen authorities have quietly changed their playing style. Moreover, they also transferred the main battlefield of cross-strait foreign affairs game from Asian, African and Latin America countries to European countries, in an attempt to convince these countries to engage in so-called "double recognition" between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
The visit of the Czech Senate chairman means that the Tsai Ing-wen administration's "sneak attack" has achieved some results, but those who are a little sober can see that these achievements are not as big as they boast about and are boasting about. On the one hand, this is because only the Czech parliamentary head of the Czech parliament, not the Czech prime minister in charge of administration, nor the Czech president with high sovereignty symbolism. The latter opposes the Czech Speaker's visit to Taiwan, and on the other hand, it is because, although the Czech Speaker's visit to Taiwan, the Czech government is far from reaching the point of establishing official relations with Taiwan or engaging in "double recognition".
Direct News: Then in your opinion, why can the Tsai Ing-wen authorities incite the Czech parliament Senate Chairman Westchil to visit Taiwan and succeed?
Special Commentator Liu Heping : I think there are two deep reasons behind this -
One is that although the Cold War in the East and West in the last century has been thirty years, as a country that was once deeply harmed by the Cold War between the East and the West, especially the once firmly controlled by the Soviet Union, the Czech Republic still cannot get out of the shadow of the Cold War, and there is still a deep "Cold War complex". It is precisely for this reason that some politicians in the Czech Republic mistakenly projected their emotions towards the past Cold War on cross-strait relations, and at the same time mistakenly projected their dissatisfaction with the Soviet Union on China. So as soon as the United States heard the clarion call for a "new Cold War" against China, some Czech politicians took the initiative to get up to be the United States' leg and stood on the side of Taiwan.
The second is because there are major differences between the executive and legislative forces within the Czech Republic, the president and the president and the president of the Senate. At the same time, there are differences between the Czech central government and local governments. In particular, Czech President Zeman is a firm pro-China faction. He once attended the 2015 military parade of the "70th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression" despite the opposition from EU countries. Most of the Czech Senate members are ideological conservatives and pro-American faction. This provides an opportunity for the Tsai Ing-wen administration to take the opportunity to divide and disintegrate.
Direct News: How do you think China will counter the Czech parliament's Senate Chairman Westchil's insistent visit to Taiwan?
Special Commentator Liu Heping : I noticed that Wang Yi, the State Councilor and Foreign Minister who are visiting Germany, and the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the Czech Republic, have made principled statements, which shows that China attaches great importance to this matter.
However, I personally judge that since only the speakers and members of the Czech Republic are visiting Taiwan, the Czech administrative forces, including the Czech president and the Czech Prime Minister, not only did not visit Taiwan, but also opposed the Czech Republic's Senate doing so. Therefore, China will leave room for counter-attack, not only will it overturn a ship of people, nor will it hurt China-Czech relations as a whole, and further push the Czech Republic into the arms of the Tsai Ing-wen authorities, but will instead launch targeted counterattacks on the Czech Republic, especially the Senate Chairman Westchil, personally, such as stopping exchanges and cooperation between the Chinese People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the Czech Republic's Political Consultative Conference and the Czech Republic's Senate. At the same time, given that the Czech Republic's main trading partners are still EU countries and Taiwan is its main source of investment in Asia, and the trade volume between China and Czech Republic accounts for less than one percent of the Czech Republic's GDP, China should not impose sanctions on the Czech Republic in terms of economic and trade.
Of course, no matter what, mainland China should ultimately attach great importance to the subsequent negative impact of the visit of the Czech Senate president to Taiwan. In my personal opinion, the warning sent by this incident to mainland China is that the Tsai Ing-wen administration is trying to start from the two channels of parliament and local governments of relevant countries to expand Taiwan's so-called "international space" and attempt to shake the "one China" principle advocated and adhered to by mainland China internationally.
It is particularly worth noting that the Tsai Ing-wen administration's duck-padding practice has achieved certain results. For example, last year, the Tsai Ing-wen administration not only promoted the plan of Taiwan’s public opinion representatives to visit the parliaments of 13 European countries, but also invited important members such as the Deputy Speaker of the British House of Lords, the Deputy Speaker of the French Senate, and the Deputy Speaker of the Slovakia and Denmark to visit Taiwan. The parliaments of relevant countries have also passed resolutions to support Taiwan in joining international organizations such as the WHO. In this case, we must prevent the visit of the Czech Senate president from becoming a model and form a demonstration and herd effect in other countries.
Of course, we must especially realize that the key reason why the parliaments of relevant countries, including the Czech Republic, have broken through the bottom line of cross-strait relations and the one-China principle is that the United States is behind the scenes and fanning the flames. We see that the Czech Senate President's open visit to Taiwan happened after US Secretary of State Pompeo visited the Czech Republic and publicly encouraged the Czech Republic to improve relations with Taiwan.
Therefore, the person who tied the bell must also be the one who tied the bell. To prevent the Tsai Ing-wen administration from expanding the international space through the "parliamentary line", it is also necessary to start from the United States to solve the Sino-US relations issue, especially to resolve the "new Cold War" against China initiated by the United States.
