While the European Union was struggling to find a consensus for a trade agreement with Canada, one of its smaller member states, the Czech Republic, is tightening its relations with China. This has created a befuddling situation in which a Central European state known for beer and beautiful women experiences an internal political fight over Tibetan flags and the Dalai Lama.

A Recent Development

It all started in 2009, when the Czech Republic and China celebrated sixty years of diplomatic relations. The history of this relationship dates back to 1949, when the former Czechoslovak Republic recognised the People’s Republic of China. China even continued to be an ally of the Czechs of some sort, notably when Beijing condemned the repression of the Czechoslovak revolution against the Warsaw pact in 1968. During this 2009 meeting, Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao called for stronger bilateral trade cooperation. At the beginning of the 2008 economic crisis, this tightening of relations, expected to improve cultural investments and investments in tourism, were deemed a necessary plan B by then Czech president Václav Klaus. He expressed his hopes that Chinese investments would steadily increase.

The right-wing opposition criticised the ruling party and hoisted not only a Tibetan flag, but also the flag of Taiwan.

From 2013 on, the shift from a right-wing to a left-wing government in the Czech Republic also meant a foreign policy change. Czech social democrat parties are known to support close relations to China. Both the last prime minister Jiří Rusnok and the current head of government Bohuslav Sobotka have been following through with this policy.

In 2014, current Czech president Miloš Zeman traveled to Beijing to vouch for improved business and tourism relations, and proposed a direct flight connection between Prague and China’s capital. Nothing could be more suited for the persona of Zeman than getting aligned with the Chinese: an anti-immigrant authoritarian with no distinct appreciation for his European counterparts and with dubious corporate friends and sponsors. A man who once called himself a European federalist, found his soulmates in Russian autocrats with whom he meets and fluently speaks Russian. He is tired of the EU, which is unwilling to deepen trade relations with the People’s Republic due to concerns about human rights. When asked by Chinese television about this strengthening of trade relations with China, Zeman responded:

“Now we are again an independent country and we formulate our foreign policy which is based on our own interests.”

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