In July, the Czech Republic takes over the reins of the EU presidency from France. Ukraine will most likely dominate the agenda and China, as such, is not planned to be one of the key issues for the presidency. However, Prague is still set up to offer new impulses on the bloc’s China policy, especially within the larger framework of the Indo-Pacific.
When the new coalition government of centre and centre-right parties were voted in late last year in Prague, there were high expectations of a promised “revision” to the strategic partnership with Beijing, which was already becoming a misnomer. Ties with China were virtually frozen under the previous government of populist Prime Minister Andrej Babiš due to a mix of unmet economic expectations, tensions over Taiwan and human rights, and a series of political scandals. The new government with a more assertive and principled policy echoes the legacy of the first Czechoslovak President, Václav Havel.
