China’s “vulgar threats” over a visit by the Czech Republic’s senate speaker to Taiwan are like a cold, unwelcome winter wind and contrast with the courteous words the speaker offered while in Taiwan, a senior Taiwanese politician said on Thursday.
China, which claims Taiwan as its sovereign territory, has condemned Czech Senate speaker Milos Vystrcil for going. The Chinese government’s top diplomat Wang Yi said this week he would pay a “heavy price” for visiting the democratic island.
Vystrcil declared himself to be Taiwanese in a speech at Taiwan’s parliament on Tuesday, channelling the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s defiance of communism in Berlin in 1963, further angering Beijing but winning plaudits in Taipei.
Speaking with Vystrcil by his side Taipei, Taiwan parliament Speaker You Si-kun praised his “stirring” speech at the legislature.
