Prague, Oct 19 (CTK) – The official statement on China issued on Tuesday fully corresponds with the position of the Czech government, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, one of its authors, told CTK on Wednesday in reaction to criticism from mostly right-wing opposition politicians and university rectors.
“Fortunately, we are a free democratic country and everybody can meet whoever they want. Similarly, the constitutional officials have the right to make clear comments on the country’s foreign policy, for which they are responsible,” Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) said in a written statement.
The statement was issued after several Christian Democrat (junior government KDU-CSL) politicians met the Tibetan Dalai Lama who is taking part in the Forum 2000 conference in Prague this week.
The right-wing opposition accused the prime minister of servility and kowtowing to Beijing. Masaryk University Rector Mikulas Bek said the statement was similar to the behaviour of the Czechoslovak wartime government towards Berlin and the Czechoslovak communist government towards Moscow.
Sobotka said he used his right and added his signature under a statement prepared by Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek (CSSD).
Zaoralek said the statement worked out by his ministry only repeated the principles of the strategic partnership between the Czech Republic and China.
The statement was signed by Sobotka, Zaoralek, President Milos Zeman, Senate chairman Milan Stech and Chamber of Deputies chairman Jan Hamacek (both CSSD). It said the meetings with the Dalai Lama are not a sign of any change of the official policy towards China and expressed hope that the good Czech-Chinese relations would be further developing.
Zaoralek said the signatures confirmed the strategic partnership.
About 50 members of the two houses of Czech parliament, mostly right-wing opposition lawmakers, met the Dalai Lama in the Senate on Wednesday. Several Czech universities raised the Tibetan flag and criticised the official statement.
China claims that the Dalai Lama, 80, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is a separatist fighting for Tibet’s independence, which he denies. Beijing, which considers Tibet an inseparable part of Chinese territory, has long criticised meetings of statesmen with the Dalai Lama.
