Prague, Oct 19 (CTK) – About 50 members of the two houses of Czech parliament met the Tibetan Dalai Lama in the Senate this morning, which was a good response to the statement that Czech supreme politicians issued on Tuesday, opposition TOP 09 deputy chairman Marek Zenisek said.
“This personality has a lot to tell the world and the Czech Republic and it is a pity that they (the supreme politicians) are afraid to meet him,” Zenisek told CTK.
On Tuesday morning, a group of Christian Democrat (KDU-CSL) politicians including Culture Minister Daniel Herman had talks with the Dalai Lama who is taking part in the international conference Forum 2000 in Prague.
In reaction, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, the heads of the houses of parliament, Jan Hamacek and Milan Stech (all Social Democrats, CSSD), and President Milos Zeman issued a statement that such meetings are not an expression of a change in the Czech official policy that respects the territorial integrity of China.
TOP 09 representatives called this statement an expression of servility.
In reaction to the statement and the official policy towards China, some Czech universities announced that they would hang the Tibetan flag around noon on Wednesday.
China labels the Dalai Lama, 80, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, a separatist, saying he was fighting for Tibet’s independence, which he denies.
The politicians who met the Dalai Lama this morning included lower house deputy chairman Petr Gazdik (opposition Mayors and Independents, STAN), upper house deputy chairwoman Miluse Horska (junior ruling KDU-CSL) and former foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg (opposition TOP 09).
The Czech-Chinese relations have been very beneficial and the Czech Republic wants to keep developing them, the Czech supreme representatives said in the official statement.
At the weekend, Slovak President Andrej Kiska met the Dalai Lama in Bratislava. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Kiska’s meeting with the Dalai Lama was tantamount to a breach of the policy of one China which Slovakia has pledged to respect.
