Prague, Oct 9 (CTK) – Czech President Milos Zeman shuns neighbouring countries, but he has already visited China three times during his five-year term in office, daily Lidove noviny (LN) wrote on Monday, referring to the list of his foreign trips.
Zeman, 75, the first Czech president to be elected directly in 2013, will be defending his post in the January 2018 presidential election.
LN writes that when experienced diplomat Rudolf Jindrak assumed the post of the head of the Presidential Office’ foreign section six months ago, he was pushing for the office’s relations with the neighbouring countries to be a priority.
Since then, the Austrian and German presidents, Alexander van der Bellen and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, have visited the Czech Republic and met Zeman and Hungarian president Janos Ader and his Slovak counterpart Andrej Kiska are to arrive in Prague by the end of the year.
However, Zeman has not repaid the visits. He has been travelling to the neighbouring countries and other EU member states only rarely, while he prefers the destinations that do not play the major role in terms of Czech economy and foreign policy, LN writes.
Zeman paid an official visit to Germany, which is the most significant economic partner of the Czech Republic, only once, in June 2013 when he surprised German journalists by greeting them “Allahu akbar” in reaction to a question about the fight with terrorism, LN says.
Besides, Zeman attended the 25th anniversary of the “peaceful revolution,” which stirred up the fall of communism, in Leipzig, Germany, in October 2014, but only as one of dozens of statesmen and not an exclusive guest.
As far as the neighbouring Austria is concerned, Zeman has been there only once. In April 2013, he visited Vienna in his capacity as head of state, LN adds.
Zeman’s visits to Poland and Slovakia, which together with Hungary and the Czech Republic form the Visegrad Four (V4) group, are more frequent. He has been to these countries six times in total, but he often attended events there that did not directly concern bilateral relations, LN says.
Zeman, for instance, took part in the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) in 2014, the international conference on Social Democracy in the 21st century last September and the funeral of former Slovak president Michal Kovac three weeks later.
Besides, Zeman has never paid an official state visit to Poland in his capacity as president. He has visited Warsaw as one of the heads of a NATO member state or a V4 country, LN writes.
Zeman’s spokesman Jiri Ovcacek refused to answer the daily’s questions why the neighbouring countries almost did not appear in the programme of his foreign trips.
Filip Chraska, a foreign policy expert from the Association for International Affairs, points out that Zeman “has reserves” in his visits to other European countries as well. Zeman has apparently failed in his diplomatic effort to “bridge the dispute with Western Europe that erupted in connection with the migrant crisis,” Chraska told LN.
“The low number of his trips to the West also proves he receives few invitations only, there is simply no demand for the current Czech president abroad,” Chraska said.
Petr Kolar, former Czech ambassador to Russia and the United States, confirmed this.
“This is no good credit to the Czech Republic. However, as exactly President Milos Zeman is the president, this is actually positive. Good neighbouring relations are being cultivated better without his contribution,” Kolar told LN.
LN points out that Zeman is yet to visit some other EU countries by the end of the year.
Nevertheless, the only big foreign trip this year during which Zeman will go not only to the capital, but also to some regions is to Russia. The other country where Zeman visits regions, too, is China, LN adds.
