Political leaders from democratic countries have jointly expressed solidarity with Miloš Vystrčil, the President of the Senate, Parliament of the Czech Republic in connection to his planned visit to Taiwan in August 2020. Initiated by Alexandr Vondra MEP (ECR/Czech Republic) and Miriam Lexmann MEP (EPP/Slovakia), and based on expertise of the MapInfluenCE project, the joint international statement further condemned pressure applied on President Miloš Vystrčil, by the People’s Republic of China.
President Vystrčil’s predecessor, the late President of the Czech Senate, Jaroslav Kubera, was planning a visit to Taiwan as the head of a delegation scheduled for February 2020. The delegation would have represented the highest-profile visit of a Czech politician to the self-ruling island in decades. Yet Mr. Kubera suddenly passed away in January 2020. Shortly before his death, Mr. Kubera received a threatening letter from the Chinese Embassy in Prague, which also brazenly threatened repercussions for three Czech companies operating in China in the event of the visit. Despite the ongoing attempts by the Chinese Embassy in the Czech Republic to thwart the visit to Taiwan, the newly-elected Senate President Miloš Vystrčil expressed his intention to proceed with it, saying that it will be an expression of the respect for freedom and democracy that the Czech Republic espouses.
‘The Czech Republic has the right to develop economic and cultural cooperation with Taiwan and President Vystrčil, constitutionally second highest representative of the Czech Republic, does not need People’s Republic of China approval for visiting Taiwan’, said the joint statement,
Lexmann and Vondra stated: ‘We thank fellow political leaders from democratic countries for standing firmly in solidarity with the Senate President Vystrčil and for the independent right of European countries to develop relationship with Taiwan in line with their national interest and shared values of democracy and human rights’.
Signed:
| European Parliament | |
| Alexandr Vondra MEP (Czech Republic) | Miriam Lexmann MEP (Slovakia) |
| Anna Fotyga MEP (Poland) | David Lega MEP (Sweden) |
| Michael Gahler MEP / Chair of the EP Taiwan Friendship Group (Germany) | Christophe Hansen MEP (Luxembourg) |
| Sandro Gozi MEP (France) | Dorien Rookmaker MEP (Netherlands) |
| Andrius Kubilius MEP (Lithuania) | Rasa Juknevičienė MEP (Lithuania) |
| Eugen Jurzyca MEP (Slovakia) | Ivan Štefanec MEP (Slovakia) |
| Tomáš Zdechovský MEP (Czech Republic) | Michaela Šojdrová MEP (Czech Republic) |
| Petras Auštrevičius MEP (Lithuania) | Veronika Vrecionová MEP (Czech Republic) |
| Charlie Weimers MEP (Sweden) | Vladimír Bilčík MEP (Slovakia) |
| Luděk Niedermayer MEP (Czech Republic) | Raphaël Glucksman MEP (France) |
| Salima Yenbou MEP (France) | Markéta Gregorová MEP (Czech Republic) |
| Mikuláš Peksa MEP (Czech Republic) |
| German Bundestag | |
| Marcus Faber |
| French Parliament | |
| Senator Olivier Cadic |
| US Congress | |
| Senator Marco Rubio | Representative Mike Gallagher |
| Representative Ted Yoho |
| Parliament of Canada | |
| Senator Thanh Hai Ngo | James Bezan MP |
| Parliament of Australia | |
| Senator Eric Abetz | George Christensen MP |
| Senator Kimberley Kitching | Andrew Hastie MP |
| UK Parliament | |
| Timothy Loughton MP |
| Seimas of Republic of Lithuania | |
| Gabrielius Landsbergis MP | Stasys Šedbaras MP |
| Ingrida Šimonytė MP | Gintaras Steponavičius MP |
| Žygimantas Pavilionis MP | Audronius Ažubalis MP |
| Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė MP | Jurgis Razma MP |
| Arvydas Anušauskas MP | Vytautas Juozapaitis MP |
| Monika Navickienė MP | Kęstutis Masiulis MP |
| Paulė Kuzmickienė MP | Bronislovas Matelis MP |
| Aistė Gedvilienė MP | Gintaras Vaičekauskas MP |
| Mantas Adomenas MP | Andrius Kupčinskas MP |
| Rasa Petrauskienė MP |
| National Council of the Slovak Republic | |
| Ondrej Dostál MP | Rastislav Jílek MP |
| Jana Žitňanská MP | Peter Osuský MP |
| Radovan Kazda MP | Andrej Stančík MP |
| Dominik Drdul MP | Monika Kozelová MP |
| Miroslav Kollár MP | Tomáš Valášek MP |
| Parliament of Estonia – Riigikogu | |
| Vilja Toomast MP | Kalle Laanet MP |
| Madis Milling MP | Paul Puustusmaa MP |
| Jüri Jaanson MP |
