Taiwan’s vice president Hsiao Bi Khim says she will not be intimidated by China after Czech military intelligence claimed Chinese diplomats and secret service followed her and planned to intimidate her physically when she visited Prague last year.
Ms Hsiao visited the Czech Republic in early 2024. Prague does not have official diplomatic ties with Taiwan but has fostered warm relations with the island, which China views as its own territory.
Czech media reported last year that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light when following Ms Hsiao’s car. Czech public radio news website irozhlas.cz said on Thursday that the Chinese had also planned to stage a demonstrative car crash.
“I had a great visit to Prague & thank the Czech authorities for their hospitality & ensuring my safety. The CCP’s unlawful activities will not intimidate me from voicing Taiwan’s interests in the international community,” Ms Hsiao said, in a social media post on Saturday, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
The post was linked to a Reuters report about the incident.
In another X post, Ms Hsiao thanked global parliamentarians who had expressed solidarity against “violence and coercion”. “Taiwan will not be isolated by intimidation,” Ms Hsiao said.
Czech military intelligence spokesperson said Chinese diplomats in Prague had taken actions that violated diplomatic rules.
“This consisted of physically following the vice president, gathering information on her schedule and attempts to document her meetings with important representatives of the Czech political and public scene,” spokesperson Jan Pejsek told Reuters.
“We even recorded an attempt by the Chinese civil secret service to create conditions to perform a demonstrative kinetic action against a protected person, which however did not go beyond the phase of preparation.”
A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry denied any wrongdoing by Chinese diplomats and claimed the Czech Republic had interfered in the country’s internal affairs by allowing Ms Hsiao’s visit to go ahead.
The Czech foreign ministry said it had summoned the Chinese envoy over the incident at the time but didn’t comment further on Friday.
“This is the CCP’s criminality on display for the whole world to see. This isn’t diplomacy, it’s coercion,” the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee wrote on X.
Taiwan protests
Taiwan claimed the alleged Chinese actions “seriously threatened the personal safety of Ms Hsiao and her entourage”. “The Mainland Affairs Council today protested and strongly condemned the Chinese communist’s bad behaviour and demanded that the Chinese side should immediately explain and publicly apologise,” it said.
A senior Taiwan security official briefed on the matter told Reuters that the incident was an example of “transnational repression” by China that the European Union was currently paying close attention to.
“This is a problem that everyone should pay attention to,” the official, requesting anonymity, said, adding many government officials around the world were threatened by China upon visits made by Taiwanese officials or politicians to their countries.
In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun maintained that “Chinese diplomats have always abided by the laws and regulations of the countries in which they are stationed”.
“China urges the parties concerned not to be provoked and exploited by separatist forces for Taiwan independence, and to not make a fuss over nothing, engage in malicious speculation and interfere with and undermine the relations between the two countries.”
Ms Hsiao assumed office along with president Lai Ching Te on May 20 last year.
Czech relations with China have cooled in recent years. The Czechs accused China in May of being behind a cyberattack on the foreign ministry.
Czech politicians have visited Taiwan and former Taiwan president Tsai Ing Wen visited Prague last October.
China views separately governed Taiwan as its own territory and has ramped up its military and political pressure in recent years. Taiwan says only its people can decide their future and vows to defend its freedom and democracy.
