Prague Approves Sister City Agreement With Taipei

Prague approved a sister city agreement with Taipei today.

The agreement will be signed in January during a visit to the Mayor of Taipei. Mayor Hrib said that the signing of the contract will not jeopardize the partnership agreements with Chinese cities. This year, Prague disagreed with Beijing over a China clause, which resulted in a termination of the sister agreement with Beijing. The contract was initially approved in May 2016 by Mayor Adriana Krnáčová.

Cooperation with the Taiwanese capital began in 2001 based on a memorandum. The city management agreed to conclude a contract during a visit to Taiwan this spring. Prague ended its sister agreement with Beijing in October due to a dispute over the one-China policy clause it contained.

China regards Taiwan as one of its provinces and threatens to intervene in the event of independence. Nevertheless, Taiwan has been operating de facto independently since 1949, with its own government and democratic system, while China continues to have a one-party regime.

“Both cities are interested in formalizing the relationship. It is a general, apolitical text about the cooperation of cities in the areas of economic and business cooperation, science and technology, culture, tourism, education, health, and others,” said the Mayor.

Czech and Taiwanese relations have recently been discussed at the highest levels of government. President of the Senator Jaroslav Kubera (ODS) plans to visit the country next year. His trip was condemned by President Milos Zeman, who promotes Czech-Chinese cooperation. Zeman says Kubera is acting against the economic interests of the Czech Republic.