Prague, Nov 9 (CTK) – Developments seem to testify to that the Czech Republic is faced with an elaborate Chinese invasion which is not so spectacular as the Russian in 1968 or the German in 1939, but whose consequences can me more enduring and painful, Petr Zidek writes in daily Lidove noviny (LN) yesterday.
He writes that raising Czech exports to China, or more precisely decreasing the alarming deficit in mutual trade is undoubtedly a Czech national interest.
In 2015, the Czech Republic exported about 1.7 billion euros worth of goods to China, while it imported goods worth more than 17 billion euros.
Zidek writes that even though probably few countries have a surplus in their trade with China, the situation where exports from China ten times exceed imports is rather alarming for an export-orientated country as the Czech Republic, Zidek writes.
However, the figure can be largely influenced by Czech consumers. If the market offers comparable products made in other countries than China, they can prefer them, Zidek writes.
Czech policy on China should be based on the fact that it is a great power whose ideology is unacceptable for the Czechs and which is trying to expand the world over and which threatens the West’s allies (Japan, South Korea) in its closest neighbourhood, Zidek writes.
It is not at all in the Czech national or state interest to strike any “strategic partnership” with China or to open itself to Chinese investments, Zidek writes.
He writes that investments by non-transparent Chinese firms connected to the Chinese Communist Party and security apparatus in the Czech Republic in strategically important branches, such as the national air carrier, media and the financial sector, is no reason for applause, but for apprehension.
Zidek writes that it might happen that one day everything important in the Czech Republic will be owned by the Chinese and that the Czechs can only choose for which branch of a Chinese firm they want to work.
It might also happen that the Chinese ambassador to the country has the same influence on Czech representatives as Soviet ambassador Stepan Chervonenko had on Czechoslovak communist leader Gustav Husak and premier Lubomir Strougal, Zidek writes.
