Czech PM Babis criticises Senate leader's Taiwan trip for damaging China business ties

The Czech government will not make a government ​plane available for the Senate chief's planned ​trip to Taiwan and wants ‌a ​more pragmatic foreign policy that does not damage business ties with China, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said. The Czech Republic, like most countries, ‌only formally recognises Beijing and not Taipei, but in recent years has grown closer to Taiwan, a powerhouse in the semiconductor industry, and has seen growing investment from it.

Babis' populist ANO party took power ‌in a coalition government with right-wing and far-right parties in December and has pulled back ‌on some policy goals of the previous centre-right cabinet. Babis' government stopped using budget money for supporting Ukraine as it fights a Russian invasion, rejected taking part in a European Union loan for Kyiv, and wants better ties with ⁠China and other ​countries for trade ⁠and investment. Babis said on social media on Sunday that Senate chief Milos Vystrcil, a member of the Civic Democrat ⁠party that led the previous government, would lead a business delegation to Taipei in May but would have ​to travel by commercial airline.

The prime minister also criticised past trips by Vystrcil and the ⁠previous lower house speaker to Taiwan that he said had "destroyed business". Vystrcil said on X he would comment on ⁠the ​issue later this week. China has been critical of the relations between Prague and Taipei. It views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory with no right to state-to-state ties, a ⁠view the government in Taipei strongly rejects.

In his post on Sunday, Babis also said he would ⁠visit Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and ⁠Uzbekistan, and that the policy should be "for our companies to do business, not a values-based (one), which has always brought nothing, only damaged our companies". "We ‌will pursue a ‌pragmatic foreign policy," he added.