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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Tsai congratulates Czech president-elect
Presidential candidate Petr Pavel, former Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Army, and his wife Eva are pictured during a press conference in Prague, Czech Republic on January 28, 2023, after Pavel became the fourth president of the Czech Republic according to official results. - Pavel, a former paratrooper, won 58 percent of votes while Andrej Babis scored 42 percent, with 99 percent of the vote counted, according to the Czech Statistical Office. Photo: AFP
SHARED VALUES: Prague and Taipei cooperated on the settlement of Ukrainian refugees last year, and the Czech government said it seeks to deepen its cooperation with Taiwan
By Lu Yi-hsuan / Staff reporter, with CNA
President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） has extended her congratulations to Czech president-elect Petr Pavel, the Presidential Office said yesterday.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is making “arrangements on possible interactions that would be beneficial to enhancing bilateral relations” with Prague, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang （張惇涵） said.
Chang made the announcement after Czech news site Seznam Zpravy reported that Pavel has scheduled a telephone call with Tsai.
The government would announce more details soon, Chang added, without elaborating.
Pavel, a retired general and former chairman of the NATO Military Committee, the alliance’s highest military body, won 58.3 percent of the vote in a presidential runoff on Saturday, defeating former Czech prime minister Andrej Babis.
Pavel is to succeed Czech President Milos Zeman, whose second term ends in March.
Chang yesterday said Taiwan and the Czech Republic are democratic partners that share the same universal values.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the two countries have deepened their cooperation in disease prevention and key industries, improving their public health capacities while strengthening the resilience of democratic supply chains, he said.
Foreign ministry spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei （蕭光偉） said that Tsai on Saturday evening asked the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Prague to convey her congratulations to Pavel on his election victory and “writing a new chapter in democratic development.”
She expressed the hope that Taiwan and the Czech Republic, in light of their shared values, would continue to work closely and deepen their democratic partnership, Hsiao said.
The Czech Republic is an important partner of Taiwan in Europe, the foreign ministry said.
The two countries share the values of freedom, democracy and human rights, and they cooperate closely in economic, trade, technology, culture and education matters, it said.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Taiwan and the Czech Republic cooperated in the settlement of Ukrainian refugees, it added.
The Czech government last year published an Indo-Pacific strategic policy document, saying that it would deepen cooperation and engagement with Taiwan.
It says that Prague pays close attention to geopolitical and security issues, as well as the situation across the Taiwan Strait and in the South and East China seas.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu （吳釗燮） yesterday congratulated Pavel on Twitter, writing that the “common history of fighting authoritarianism and shared passion for freedom and democracy will bring Taiwan and the Czech Republic closer.”
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang speaks in an undated photograph. Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
