New opportunities for Chinese-Czech (European) cooperation. This was the topic of today's round table, organised by the editorial staff of iportaL24.cz under the patronage of the Czech-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Following the recent Central Economic Work Conference of China, which sets the economic course for next year, the participants expressed their clear support for closer ties between the two countries, which were severed by the former government of Petr Fiala (ODS).
„The priorities of our economic work are highly consistent with the potential for cooperation between China, the EU and the Czech Republic. This year we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the EU. Half a century of history convincingly proves that cooperation is the only right choice for both sides.“ said a representative of China Media Group (CMG) Mr Zhang with the addition that China and the EU together account for approximately one third of global GDP and trade volume and are each other's most important trading partners.
„With the solid foundation we have built together, let us now look ahead," Mr Zhang called out. "We can build our joint journey on three pillars: First, in trade and industry, we will shift cooperation from traditional complementarity to innovative symbiosis. Your excellent engineering and industrial production have always been a stabilising pillar of our trade. Now is the time to focus our energies together on new areas such as the green economy, the digital economy and smart manufacturing. China is intensively building a modern industrial system – and this is not only a huge market for Czech advanced technologies and services, but also fertile ground for our joint research projects and the creation of new standards.“ Mr Zhang said.
„Secondly, we will transform the ‚steel caravan‘ into a ‚smart artery‘. Trains between China and Europe, which have already exceeded 110,000 journeys, have convincingly proven their value. Now we face the task of making them smarter and more efficient. We can explore new models together, such as e-commerce and refrigerated logistics, with the aim of creating a stable, efficient and resilient supply artery that will reliably serve the goods and ideas of businesses in both our countries.“ said a CMG representative.
As his third point, he mentioned regional and human exchange, where there is an opportunity to deepen cooperation from the state level to the „level of cities and hearts“. „We can already see the enormous energy generated by partnerships between Chinese provinces and Czech regions. In the future, we should support more partnerships between cities and regions and create more practical platforms, such as the business summit in Brno. Let entrepreneurs negotiate face to face, experts tackle challenges together, and young people learn from each other – this ‚community‘ approach is the strongest foundation for relations between our nations.“ Mr Zhang said.
„These three pillars form a clear path forward. Now it is up to all of us to set out on this path together,“ he added, noting that the Chinese side is ready to work with the Czech and European sides to strengthen dialogue and exchanges at all levels and expand the cooperation agenda. »With regard to specific trade and economic issues, we believe that they should be properly addressed through consultation and avoid politicisation.“ Mr Zhang emphasised.
The chairman of the Czech-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry took his speech as a challenge. Vojtěch Filip. „This is a challenge for the Czech Republic. And it is also a challenge for the Czech government to build on what has been happening here since 2015 and 2016.“ said Vojtěch Filip.
According to him, the question is how the Czech Republic is able to respond to the Chinese side's challenge and how far it can go in the development of digital technologies. „I am convinced that we should return to renewing cooperation between universities and academic institutions. That is obvious. Science, research and technology are the biggest drivers of GDP growth.“ Filip pointed out, also mentioning the necessity of developing tourism and energy.
The chairman of the Czech-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry took his speech as a challenge. Vojtěch Filip. „This is a challenge for the Czech Republic. And it is also a challenge for the Czech government to build on what has been happening here since 2015 and 2016.“ said Filip.
According to him, the question is how the Czech Republic is able to respond to the Chinese side's challenge and how far it can go in the development of digital technologies. „I am convinced that we should return to renewing cooperation between universities and academic institutions. That is obvious. Science, research and technology are the biggest drivers of GDP growth.“ Filip pointed out, also mentioning the necessity of developing tourism and energy.
Vice-Chairman of the KSČM Milan Krajca He followed up on this with fresh insights gained from his recent personal participation in a conference in Beijing entitled the World Socialist Forum, where the origins of the current Chinese plan were explained. „It was clear what possibilities socialist planning, organised by the Communist Party of China, offers compared to the market chaos and crises we face here in our region or in North America.“ Krajča stated.
Next speaker, Chairman of the Central Control Commission of SOCDEM Jan Mach, In his words, he agreed with the greeting from the third President of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman, who said the following to CMG: „China is the world's largest market and has already surpassed the US in terms of economic growth and volume. This means that access to the Chinese market is vital for the Czech Republic as an export-oriented economy. As president, I have always supported economic diplomacy and Czech exporters.“
Based on how the former coalition government behaved towards China, which, among other things, thwarted Zeman's efforts, Mach called on us not to act in a judgemental manner towards foreign countries and not to try to tell them how they should live. „We need to accept that there are societies and states that uphold values different from ours. But that does not prevent us from cooperating economically and culturally.“ Mach called for this and criticised the dogmatism and artificial creation of enemies over the last four years under Fiala's coalition.
His words were confirmed by a businessman, former deputy chairman of SOCDEM and representative of the municipality of Zdiby. Jan Hard. „We artificially throw sticks under our own feet and create obstacles so that people cannot see with their own eyes that reality is different.“ Tvrdý mentioned this in connection with the unprecedented development of China, but also other countries that we once referred to as „developing“. „History is turning, and now we must learn from them.“ he stated.
Former Prime Minister and Chairman of the ČSSD Jiří Paroubek asked himself what was behind China's development. „It's simple – combining strategic planning with a market economy. And the third factor is social sensitivity, because the Chinese always talk about their goal of achieving prosperity for the people. And this is where they differ from the previous Czech government, which was not interested in the prosperity of the nation, but in the development of Ukraine, and especially in warfare.“ said Paroubek.
The fact that the new cabinet of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš will change its stance on foreign policy was confirmed directly at the discussion table by a representative of one of the new governing parties – the SPD. Member of Parliament Tomáš Doležal at the event, he stated that „develops the approach of the new government and the new parliamentary majority in politics towards China“. „First and foremost, it is a return to normality, for which we should be grateful, compared to the four years of excess that we have seen here. The government's policy statement also declares loyalty to the One China policy and an emphasis on economic diplomacy,« said Doležal, adding that when a Taiwanese delegation visited the Czech Republic last week, there was a clear consensus among the governing parties not to meet with them. „At the parliamentary level, there will be an end to this provocative and counterproductive congressional tourism to Taiwan.“ said Doležal, informing participants that the interparliamentary group of friends of the Czech Republic and China would be re-established in January.
„I would say that this meeting now carries enormous political weight, because it signals not only a change in our relationship with China after all the pirate and progressive nonsense, but also our readiness to negotiate and cooperate. I am sure that this is the main thing.“ joined by a long-standing Member of Parliament and current representative of the Central Bohemian Region Jiri Kobza.
He shared his personal experience with the participants, recounting his visit to a conference on green technologies in Shenzhen a year ago. „In some fields, China is already so far ahead technologically that we should humbly go there to learn from them.“ said Kobza, who is the organiser of the Rebellion Against the Green Deal project. „I fight against the Green Deal with every fibre of my being, but that doesn't mean I'm not in favour of protecting the environment or using common sense in this area. Because the approach must simply be that humans are still the apex predator and must maintain this position, because if they give it up and start releasing bears and bison into the forests, someone else will take the position of apex predator. And what caught my attention in China was their philosophy of environmental protection in terms of the use of renewable resources, where on the one hand, in the south-east, they use wind and solar power plants and produce them on a large scale – why not sell them to Europe, which will destroy its own industry – and at the same time, they are building hundreds of coal-fired power plants across the country, that also needs to be said. And one thing needs to be remembered, and that is the close link between coal-fired power plants and the construction industry. Because fly ash is an important component of building materials as such.“ Kobza emphasised.
Helena Kočová, editor of the weekly Naše pravda, who specialises in China, where she has lived for a long time, mentioned the role of the media. According to her, dialogue is reopening. „Economic relations do not arise in a vacuum. They need not only political and institutional support, but also public understanding. The media can act as a bridge – explaining what stage relations are at, what they involve, and what opportunities and risks they bring.“ said Kočová.
„Experience in recent years shows that interrupting communication does not lead to solving problems, but rather to their deepening. If cooperation between the Czech Republic and China is to be functional in the long term, it must be based on three pillars: a political framework, specific economic projects, and open communication with the public. This is where the media can play a role that is neither promotional nor confrontational, but explanatory and bridging.“ added the journalist.
She was followed by the statutory vice-chairwoman of the ČSSD. Jana Volfová. „We can all live relatively comfortable lives, with lots of technology and other conveniences, because China manufactures everything. And if someone, on the one hand, as I say, flies to Taiwan, and on the other hand buys Chinese goods, then to me they are just a hypocrite. And I don't like hypocrites.“ said Volfová resolutely.
Chairman of the Czech Friends of BRICS Martin Teyrovsky He added that the main cooperation between the two countries should be at university level and involve student exchanges. „However, we can offer many other ideas, one of which is organic farming, which we have not yet started ourselves, but there are new technologies that enable us to do so on the basis of colloids – so that we can fertilise very ecologically on the basis of water solutions.“ Teyrovský gave a specific example.
Chairman of the HOME Party David Tiger Ploc called for the future of the Czech Republic to lie precisely in cooperation with the BRISC community. „You may think I am a dreamer, a romantic, and some of you may consider me a realist, but I have no doubt that the future belongs to the BRICS community. It has all the best prerequisites to replace the Western world order.“ said Ploc. „The second thing I no longer doubt is that if the richest man in the world talks about the collapse of the EU, I am sure it will happen. And if we try hard enough, we can be at the starting line when that dream day arrives.“ Ploc judges.
Chairman of the Direction Czech Republic party David Stepan As an educator, he also emphasised the importance of university cooperation between the two countries. „I currently have a brilliant student who, in addition to being excellent at mathematics, has started studying Chinese, which is really great. Well, let's hope that China remains true to what it has always been true to, namely that, unlike some much smaller European powers, it has not been expansionist. When you consider how huge the country is, with such enormous power, if it decided to use it, it would be a truly crazy idea. And, strangely enough, China has always been self-sufficient and has had no need to expand in this way.“ praised Štěpán.
Energy expert and advisor to MEP Ondřej Knotek (ANO) Vladimir Vlk He emphasised cooperation in the fields of science and education. „At the end of the 1950s and beginning of the 1960s, there was close cooperation between Czechoslovakia and China. Many students studied here, both in mechanical engineering and other technical fields. And we cooperated very well with China. This was not only in the automotive industry, but also in heavy engineering. And most importantly, we exported turbines to China, which, as far as I know, are still in operation today, and they praise them and say that they are high-quality goods. So that is one fundamental thing, and the second is that China has made a huge leap forward. We, on the other hand, slowed down after 1989.“ Vlk compared.
The next two speakers called for today's debate to serve as a challenge for other citizens. Jiří Málek, chairman of the Society for European Dialogue (SPED), a member organisation of Transform! Europe, would like to see these ideas become widely known in order to „change people's thinking“ towards China and its policies. And Jaroslav Pollák, president of the association Důstojné stáří – generace pro budoucnost, z. s. (SPD), recalled that he wants to seek bridges between seniors and the younger generation, just as the People's Republic of China seeks bridges between nations.
The secretary of the Czech-Chinese Association also sent his greetings to the participants of today's debate. Karel Nedbálek, who stated, among other things: „The Czech-Chinese Association was established with a clear goal: to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between the Czech Republic and the People's Republic of China. Not politically. Not ideologically, but practically, humanely and for the public good. The association wants to create space for education, cultural exchange, economic cooperation, and partnerships between companies and institutions.“
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