MapInfluence analysts Ivana Karásková and Tamás Matura have both featured recently in the Chinese edition of Deutsche Welle, adding some salt to the fiery comments from Chinese diplomats like Wang Yi as to the potential retalitaory measures Beijing can inflict on Czech businesses after Czech Senate President Miloš Vystrčil high-profile visit to Taiwan.
Both emphasized the disconnect between the actual business ties existent between the two nations and the public perception of these connections.
“The room for China to impose penalties on the Czech Republic is actually very small…In fact, there is very little economic cooperation between China and the Czech Republic,” Karaskova said. “If China strikes back, some companies may find it difficult to deal with, but if we analyze further, the large Czech companies will not be affected.
Karaskova on Sino-Czech Cooperation
Matura specifically homed in on the interweaving domestic alliances that allow this undue perception to fester, particularly in the form of a governing coalition reliant upon the communist party and a President that has courted a warm relationship with Beijing.
President Zeman has formed an alliance of common interests with pro-China groups in the Czech political circle and business people who have appeals to China by pursuing a certain kind of private diplomacy that goes beyond the boundaries of public diplomacy. The political arena exerts a huge influence far higher than the symbolic office of the president.
Matura’s analysis of the Czech political dynamic
Karaskova’s full comments are available here
Matura’s analysis is available here
The comments for Deutsche Welle follow a conference on the topic held in Prague, discussing both the political and economic fallout from the Taiwan visit. For more on the conference’s findings and discussion, click here.
Image source: Občanská demokratická strana, Wikimedia Commons
