“In Slovakia, cooperation with Chinese entities is affected by low transparency…. Although publicly funded institutions may carry out technology transfer, the current law does not require Chinese entities (especially companies) to disclose their benefits People, just like other types of relationships, publicly funded entities provide valuable considerations to private parties”
Matej Šimalčík, Radio France International“It ‘s a simple choice – either Georgia follows Western standards, norms and values, which unites us, because we are all Georgians, Czechs, Germans and British Europeans. Melia’s case is no different from Navalny’s.”
Pavel Havlíček, Governance Monitoring Center“The evidence at the scene of the incident was destroyed by an explosion, and the case itself was closed in 2015. But after the poisoning of the Skripals in 2018, it was decided to resume the investigation, new data appeared, and by the spring of this year enough evidence had been collected.”
Pavel Havlíček, Kommersant“This is about credibility of the country, our position in the world. We want to be seen. We want to be recognized. And we don’t want to be subordinate to Russia.”
Pavel Havlíček, Radio Free Europe“There was already a cross-party consensus – apart from the Communists and far-right – that there’s no alternative. These latest revelations will only deepen this stance, and drive a more radical review of relations with Russia.”
Pavel Havlíček, Balkan Insight“PPF learned how to navigate these muddy waters of post-communist reform, when the economy starts opening up but there are a lot of strings attached. They developed it in the Czech Republic, mastered it in Russia, and brought it to China.”
Ivana Karásková, The Wire“Some countries received vaccines in the form of donations, while others purchased them or were offered a loan to buy them — an alternative aimed primarily at the Latin American and Caribbean countries.”
Ivana Karásková and Veronika Blablová, Down to Earth (India)“It is in Hamáček’s interest to get rid of a rival. Zeman and Hamáček see eye to eye on [Tomáš Petříček’s dismissal], though, not necessarily coordinating their positions.”
Ivana Karásková, Euronews“Russia is trying to undermine trust in leaders, governments and the state agencies that regulate drugs. They are trying to undermine trust in the EU. They are trying to disseminate mistrust among the member states,” some of whom are now competing to purchase the Sputnik V vaccine.”
Pavel Havlíček, Yahoo News“[Montenegro] was repeatedly warned that the highway project was not feasible, but nevertheless it decided to accept Chinese finance for it as a sort of ‘plan B’ after Western creditors refused to finance it.”
Matej Šimalčík, South China Morning Post “I still don’t think [Babiš] wants Russia to get the tender. Babiš is between a rock and a hard place and is primarily interested in keeping his government together. That’s why he is outsourcing”
Pavel Havlíček, Energy Intelligence“Instead of the usual mix of neutral, positive and negative stories about China, Empresa suddenly only brought positive news. The frequency with which people wrote about the Silk Road project increased, much more often than in 40 other media [outlets].”
Ivana Karásková, De Standaard