His pragmatic approach to China and his own party has helped the Social Democrats (ČSSD) back into second place in the political polls, with the Communists trailing at third for the first time in two years.

Paroubek even remains confident that his party could do the virtually impossible — beat the Civic Democrats in the 2006 national elections and once again be charged with forming a government. Clearly, having a left-wing leader run a left-wing party will be more effective than having a centrist leader run a left-wing party, as was the case of Paroubek's two Social Democratic predecessors, both of whom resigned before their terms expired.

The question some observers ask is how Paroubek's pragmatism might play out for the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM), which already claims nearly one-fourth of Parliament.

Several months ago, Paroubek boldly predicted that in 10 years, a KSČM member would ascend to the Cabinet. That remains terrifying for the many politicians and activists who have tried to outlaw and marginalize the party during the past 15 years, an effort that continues today.

But Paroubek has shown no harshness toward the KSČM — in fact, quite the opposite. During a political talk show on Czech Television 1 last month, Paroubek and KSČM Deputy Jiří Dolejš spent so much time agreeing on various issues that it would have been quite understandable if the audience forgot they hailed from different parties.

Paroubek consulted KSČM head Miroslav Grebeníček before traveling to China, since Grebeníček had just returned from Asia and had gained knowledge of business opportunities in the continent's communist countries, where he received red-carpet treatment, including from North Korea.

The Communists and the Social Democrats also banded together to support a referendum law that may lead to a vote on the European Union constitution.

So does this simply represent a natural part of left-wing politics? After all, many Social Democrats used to call themselves communist.

Bohumil Doležal, a political scientist and a Czechoslovak member of Parliament in the early 1990s, observes that no matter how much political parties would like the Communists to disappear, their existence remains a fact of Czech political life. He pokes fun at the early 1990s slogan of hopeful politicians, "We are not like them," a reference to the Communists. Doležal says they should have also added the statement: "We cannot do without them."

Certainly, Paroubek's more open contact with the KSČM has proven the interdependence of the two parties. Doležal says this represents one more symptom that the "de-communization of society" has failed.

Paroubek, meanwhile, laments that he took only seven businessmen with him to China. He suggests that several planeloads would have accompanied his French or German counterparts.

Many potentially lucrative contracts for Czech construction companies exist in China, particularly as the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing draw closer. Never mind those pesky political prisoners whom Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch keep mentioning — after all, that remains an internal matter for the Chinese.

So the ČSSD needs communist China — just as it needs the KSČM.