Wen and Paroubek signed 14 treaties during meetings Dec. 8–9, most dealing with economic issues, though the government has not released details of the agreements.

The visit, the first by a Chinese official in 18 years, came two days after Chinese riot police killed at least 20 people in one village during social protests that have spread across the countryside there. A number of Western newspapers called it the greatest use of force against Chinese citizens since the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.

Critics of that country's communist regime protested outside the Chinese Embassy in Prague during Wen's visit. Members of the Falun Gong, the meditative movement that the Chinese government has persecuted for years, stood in silent protest outside the embassy for 24 hours. Some supporters of the China administration were there as well.

Rather than acknowledging the protests, Czech leaders tried with little success to address the unequal economic relationship that exists between the two countries.

"I think Prime Minister Paroubek has put Chinese human rights violations on the back burner," says Martina Lustigová, a political science lecturer at Charles University.

According to the Czech Statistical Office, Czech exports to the China for the first three quarters of 2005 totaled 5.7 billion Kč ($230.5 million). Chinese exports to the Czech Republic, by contrast, were worth some 73.7 billion Kč.

Analysts say the meetings between Wen and Paroubek failed to bring about any major changes in Czech–Chinese economic policy, and some criticized Paroubek for acting too hastily in his willingness to make deals with his counterpart.

Rudolf Fürst of the Institute of International Relations in Prague says economic cooperation with China isn't that important for Czechs at the moment, but there is, of course, tremendous potential.

"We are so fascinated by this potential that we don't negotiate with China rationally," he says.

Lustigová notes a disturbing trend among Western political leaders, who seemingly ignore China's human rights violations in efforts to foster good relations with the superpower.