Prague to cancel sister city agreement with Beijing over controversial One-China policy

Prague, Oct 4 (CTK) – Prague is going to cancel the sister city agreement with Beijing because China does not want to enter talks about removing a clause stating that Prague respects the One-China policy, Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib (Pirates) told CTK today.

The Prague City Council will meet to address the cancellation of the agreement on Monday and if it decides to proceed, the issue will enter City Assembly talks.

The agreement with Beijing was arranged by Prague representatives under former mayor Adriana Krnacova (ANO) in 2016 and was opposed by then opposition parties.

“At the moment, Beijing is not responding to our correspondence even after we have sent official reminders,” Hrib said.

The current Prague leadership called on Beijing to begin talks about removing the clause in question this January.

“The other side repeatedly declined our proposals to remove clause number three, ignoring our last message completely, and so no understanding has been reached about a possible revision of the text,” Hrib added.

China reacted to Prague’s steps by cancelling the Chinese tours of Prague-based music ensembles, for example Prague Philharmonia.

The Chinese authorities then started cancelling the tours of music ensembles and orchestras that have no official or financial ties to Prague and only use the name of the city in the title of their music projects.

China has stated that Hrib’s attitude is damaging Czech-Chinese relationships.

bas/dr/pvr