Czech delegation led by Senate President lands in Taipei in highest-ever-ranking visit

An 89-member delegation from the Czech Republic led by the country''s Senate President Milos Vystrcil arrived in Taiwan on Sunday. Vystrcil is the highest-ranking Czech official to ever visit Taiwan. Aside from seven other senators, the delegation also includes the mayor of Prague, academics and business representatives. Foreign Minister Joseph Wu met the delegation at the airport where Vystrcil and most of the delegation members wore masks that displayed the Taiwan and Czech flags. China, meanwhile, has expressed its outrage over the visit, which will last until Sept. 4

Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil waved to the cameras as he and his delegation landed in the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Sunday morning. As part of the epidemic prevention protocol, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu forsook the usual diplomatic handshakes and instead greeted them with friendly elbow-bumps.

Milos Vystrcil
Czech Senate President
Arriving in Taiwan makes us feel particularly happy.

The masks worn by members of the visiting delegation and Taiwanese officials were printed with the flags of Taiwan and the Czech Republic to symbolize the two nations’ friendship.

Milos Vystrcil
Czech Senate President
The masks that my wife and I are wearing were donated to us by Taiwan when we were in the midst of the most serious coronavirus epidemic.

The delegation has adopted a “diplomatic bubble” mode of transport. They arrived on a China Airlines charter flight and will travel around Taipei in private vehicles, overall taking routes that separate them from the general public. Once they leave a venue, it will be disinfected immediately.

Not only did the Czech delegation have to submit to COVID-19 test results before boarding their plane, they also had to undergo a second round of tests when arriving at their hotel. On Tuesday Sept.1, they will be tested once more.
On Monday, the second day of their stay, there will be an event aimed at matching up Czech and Taiwanese enterprises, and then Vystrcil will give a speech at National Chengchi University. On Tuesday, he will address the Legislative Yuan. In the afternoon, Legislative Speaker You Si-kun will act as his tour guide as he visits the National Center for Traditional Arts in Yilan. In the coming days, he also plans to visit the Executive Yuan, the Ministry of Science and Technology and local businesses. He’s also expected to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen. Tsai welcomed the delegation in a Facebook post, while Vystrcil also expressed support of Taiwan before he departed Europe.

Milos Vystrcil
Czech Senate President
Our visit to Taiwan is a show of our support for Taiwan’s democracy because the way Taiwan strove for democracy is similar to that of the Czech Republic.

The friendship between Taiwan and the Czech Republic is not without critics. A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in the Czech Republic lambasted Vystrcil for disregarding Sino-Czech relations and pushing through with his Taiwan visit with his own personal political calculations in mind. This seriously interfered in China’s internal affairs, the spokesman said. In response, Legislative Speaker You wrote on Facebook that: “this spells bad news for China. No country will end well if it is a power that makes an enemy of Czech public opinion.”

Видео Czech delegation led by Senate President lands in Taipei in highest-ever-ranking visit канала 民視英語新聞 Formosa TV English News