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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Opinion -> 
Czech visit of strategic significance
    2016-04-04  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

    Winton Dong

    dht620@sina.com

    BEFORE traveling to Washington, D.C., to attend the Fourth Nuclear Security Summit held from Thursday to Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a three-day state visit to the Czech Republic.

    Xi arrived at Prague’s international airport at 2 p.m. local time on March 28. He was greeted with a rare 21-artillery salute at the Prague Castle, the seat of the presidency. He was also the first head of state to be invited to Lany Chateau, the summer residence of Czech presidents.

    It was also the first state visit by a Chinese president since diplomatic ties were established with the former Czechoslovakia 67 years ago — on Oct. 6, 1949 — only six days after the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

    Czechoslovakia (officially divided into two independent countries — the Czech Republic and Slovakia — on Jan. 1, 1993) was originally a socialist country and close ally of the former Soviet Union, so its ties with China have gone through ups and downs under the great influence of international circumstances and then China-Soviet Union relationships. Such a political background, to some extent, can explain why a state visit came so late.

    With regard to Sino-Czech ties, Vaclav Havel (1936-2011) is also a person that cannot be ignored. Havel was the last president of Czechoslovakia (between 1989 and 1992) and the first president of the Czech Republic (from 1993 to 2003). As a famous philosopher, Havel put more emphasis on relations with Western countries. He was awarded the Philadelphia Liberty Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the United States in 1994 and 2003, respectively. In 2004, he was even offered an Order of Brilliant Star by the Taiwan authority. Due to this kind of conflicting sentiment and his frequent criticism of China’s policy on Tibet and other internal affairs, the China-Czech relationship was at the lowest point during his tenure.

    In 2013, Milos Zeman took power and became the Czech president. Different from his predecessors, Zeman attaches great importance to relations with Russia and China. On May 9, 2015, Zeman attended the Victory Day parade at the Red Square hosted by Russia to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Great Patriotic War. Getting to know the news, Andrew Shapiro, American ambassador to the Czech Republic, improperly criticized Zeman for attending the parade in Moscow. Zeman was so angry that he forbad Shapiro from entering his seat of presidency. In terms of developing a partnership with China, Zeman paid a state visit to China in October 2014. Then, on Sept. 3, 2015, Zeman again took part in the parade in Beijing marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, the only European leader to do so. At that time, even though Zeman’s foot was injured, he climbed up to Tiananmen Rostrum to attend the ceremony with the help of a cane.

    When interviewed by China Central Television earlier, Zeman said, “It is a new start, since we used to have terrible relations with China and the previous government gave in to pressure from the United States and the European Union. We now formulate our foreign policy based on our own interests.” As a famous Chinese saying goes, when water flows, a channel is formed. Good interactions between top leaders make Xi’s state visit to the Czech Republic this time a natural course.

    

    A state visit at such a crucial moment is of strategic importance and mutual benefits to both countries. President Zeman hailed the visit as a watershed in the nations’ ties and estimated that business deals signed during Xi’s trip could bring in about US$4 billion in Chinese investments this year. The two nations will also promote cooperation in fields such as infrastructure, finance, high technologies, nuclear energy and others.

    Moreover, with the Czech Republic being an important and pivotal country along the Belt and Road Initiative, the closer ties between the two countries will surely extend China’s cooperation with other nations in Europe. In addition to bilateral projects, the Czech Republic is also cooperating actively within the 16+1 platform to strengthen partnerships between China and Central and Eastern European countries. Such a strategy is also well echoed by President Zeman. “We are ready to become an active part of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Czech Republic will become the gateway for China to enter the European Union,” he said.

    (The author is the editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Daily with a Ph.D. from the News and Communication School at Wuhan University.)

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