Spokeman says the trip will very likely be longer than the president’s other recent trips abroad
Prague, June 26 (ČTK) — Czech President Miloš Zeman may visit China in October, although the exact schedule of the trip is still being negotiated, Zeman’s spokesman Jiří Ovčáček told journalists today.
The trip may be longer than the usual two-day foreign visits Zeman has recently undertaken, Ovčáček said.
Referring to Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mládek (Social Democrats, ČSSD), who discussed cooperation in China earlier this month, the server iDnes.cz wrote about Zeman’s possible October visit.
Mládek seeks a restart of Czech-Chinese economic relations, and the server wrote that the government was seeking a big Chinese investment in the Moravia-Silesia Region.
In February, Zeman discussed cooperation within China with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Sochi Olympics.
In April, Foreign Affairs Minister Lubomír Zaorálek (ČSSD) made a visit to Beijing, where he said Tibet was an inseparable part of China, and the Czech Republic did not support its independence in any form .
Critics are saying Czech diplomacy is leaving the policy of defense of human rights, advocated by President Vaclav Havel (1993–2003), but Zaorálek and other government members have dismissed the criticism.
Zeman has also said he appreciated “the new government’s realistic policy toward China.”
Czech Health Minister Svatopluk Němeček paid a visit to China last week to negotiate cooperation in health care.
