The mayor of a Prague district lashed out at Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for issuing threats to Czech Republic Senate Speaker Milos Vystrcil following his visit to Taiwan.
Wang Yi had warned that Vystrcil would “pay a heavy price” for his “short-sighted behaviour”, accusing the Czech official of committing an act of “international treachery”.
Responding to the warning, the Mayor of Prague district Reporyje, Pavel Novotny, in a letter addressed to Wang on his Facebook page, demanded an immediate apology from the Chinese minister, saying this was the last time he opened his mouth against the Czech Republic.
He accused Wang of “crossing the lines” of acceptable diplomatic norms and chastised the foreign ministry as “unmannered rude clowns!”
Novotny asked China to apologise for the threat “right now” with a formal apology delivered on the table of Czech foreign minister within 24 hours.
He claimed that the Czech Foreign Minister agrees with his opinion but is unable to publicly express his sentiment due to a pact between “not very sane” Czech President Miloš Zeman with “co-conspirator” Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.
The mayor said that, in future, if the minister talks about any Czech official in a threatening tone, he will make Wang “pay a heavy price for bullying.”
Taking a jibe at China’s check diplomacy, Novotny said that the response from the Czech side will be same even if China invests 14 times more than Taiwan.
“Wake up. You will not s**t on us. Do not let this to be repeated. Send me the copy of the apology on email, so I can put it in archives and forget your pathetic diplomatic f*** up you have just made. Don’t p**s me off,” wrote Novotný in the letter.
The Czech Republic, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan and any official visit to the island is frowned upon by Beijing.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian had strongly condemned the “anti-China forces” of Czech Republic for interfering in China’s “internal affairs”.