This commentary was originally published by CEIAS and is republished here with permission.
The Sino-Czech relations have been in a state of hibernation for some time as there has been little interest in promoting ties with China on the Czech political scene. Due to the many controversies as well as the general belief that ties with China have not brought any real benefit, supporting closer ties with China has become politically toxic. For Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, China was a marginal issue that he did not care about enough to establish a discernible policy stance, instead reacting to external stimuli on an ad hoc basis. Any positive agenda virtually dissipated from the bilateral ties.
For this reason, even if the new government will probably be composed of the generally China-skeptic SPOLU and PirStan party coalitions, China policy may follow the already established trend rather than resulting in a 180-degree turn. Still, the new government will probably be more outspoken towards China on issues such as human rights and also Taiwan. Czechia might also follow Lithuania’s example in stopping its participation in China-CEE cooperation.
A more assertive stance will surely create conflicts with President Zeman, although there is now a great deal of uncertainty over his ability to continue fulfilling his constitutional duties due to his poor health. With the Social Democrats and Communists out of the parliament, Zeman is now the only remaining key politician cheerleading for a strong relationship with China.
One might correctly point out that it was the ODS government of Prime Minister Nečas that made the first moves towards China ten years ago under the banner of economic diplomacy. However, I believe that this line of thinking on China is virtually dead and ODS is now more characterized by Senate President Miloš Vystrčil and his support for Taiwan. In any case, I do not envision that there will be any interest in reviving the “strategic partnership” between the two countries any time soon.
