They know the former president Václav Havel or the writer Milan Kundera and consider Prague to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Despite the distance of nine thousand kilometers, Taiwanese know a lot about the Czech Republic. This is also helped by numerous official visits, which, however, usually provoke criticism from Beijing.
The last time Taiwan was visited last week was the speaker of the House of Representatives, Markéta Pekarová Adamová (TOP 09). Photos from meetings with President Tsai Jing-wen or visits to local monuments made it to the front pages of Taiwanese newspapers.
Pekarová Adamová also spoke on the floor of the Taiwanese parliament, where she said that “we are with you now and we will continue to be with you, under all circumstances”. She compared the fate of the island neighboring the People’s Republic of China, which considers it a breakaway province, to Czechoslovakia in 1968. However, as Joseph Yeh from the Taiwanese press agency Central News Agency says, many Taiwanese were also attracted by the politician’s outward appearance.
“Her visit was very popular in Taiwan, because she is a young, attractive woman,” he tells the daily Aktuálně.cz and compares the event with the visit of Senate President Miloš Vystrčil in 2020. “That one is also known and everyone is aware that she meant a lot. But ordinary people, who only occasionally read newspapers and watch the news on TV, see a young, attractive woman and immediately start asking where she comes from. It’s superficial, but true for ordinary media consumers,” he adds.
As an example, Yeh cites the incident of Roy Lee, a representative of the Taiwanese Ministry of Commerce, who welcomed Pekarová Adamová and the entire delegation. “Then many friends called him because they saw them together in one shot on TV. They asked who he was and where he was from.”
A similar situation prevailed last winter, when an Aktuálně.cz reporter visited the capital, Taipei. Although the locals could not pronounce the name of the then mayor of Prague, Zdenek Hřib (Pirates), who visited the island a few years earlier, they often repeated the phrase “handsome mayor”. And they remembered that he helped arrange the passage of the endangered pods to Prague.
Beer and Švankmajer
The head of the Czech Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, which represents a de facto embassy, David Steinke adds that Taiwanese people like the Czech Republic precisely because of the improving political relations. “It opened the door for us,” he told Aktuálně.cz last year.
“When talking to ordinary Taiwanese, when you mention that I am from the Czech Republic, you can see that they like us. For me as a diplomat, it is a nice experience. I have experienced such warmth only twice in my professional career: in Ukraine and Taiwan.” he added.
Karel Picha, who runs a Czech restaurant called Divadlo in Taipei, has a similar experience. According to him, after Miloš Vystrčil visited the island, he became interested in typical Czech cuisine and the drinks it offers. “One lady sent us 500 Taiwan dollars, saying that if Vystrčil comes here, she wants to invite him for a beer,” he says.
Picha, who has lived on the island for several years, claims that from his experience almost every Taiwanese knows at least something about the Czech Republic. Sometimes it’s just knowledge of beer, other times people mention President Václav Havel. He visited the island in 2004, when he broke his leg there.
Other people know some Czech football players or the book The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. And also films by Jan Švankmajer and Miloš Forman. For example, thirty-year-old David, who works in Taipei as a graphic artist, came into contact with them. On the contrary, the twenty-year-old bartender at the Theater admits that she doesn’t even know much about Havel, who looks down on her from the picture above the counter. “But I like Czech beer better than Taiwanese beer,” he assures.
Prague like from the series
However, there is one topic that almost every Taiwanese can talk about in connection with the Czech Republic: Prague. The capital city became known thanks to a popular South Korean series from the nineties, the plot of which takes place in Prague. It is now one of the two most popular honeymoon destinations for Taiwanese.
“You either fly to Paris or to Prague. I’ve heard that since I was a child,” says journalist Yeh, admitting that he and his wife also considered celebrating their marriage by visiting the Czech Republic. However, in their case, France won. “It’s unbelievable how much Taiwanese like to go to Prague. Even on days when it’s so cold that even Czechs don’t go out, there are still a lot of Taiwanese on the streets.”
In addition, a direct flight between Taipei and Prague will open this June, which Yeh says will attract even more tourists from the Asian island.
Video: Miloš Vystrčil received a standing ovation in Taiwan (September 1, 2020)
The Speaker of the Taiwanese Parliament, Jou Si-khun, awarded the President of the Czech Senate, Miloš Vystrčil, a medal for parliamentary diplomacy. | Video: Associated Press
