‘I am Taiwanese’: Czech senate president channels JFK in show of support for island
- Milos Vystrcil shrugs off Beijing’s threat that he would ‘pay a high price’ to offer strong support for Taiwan
- Speech to parliament alludes to former American president’s ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ speech as Vystrcil says he wants to show solidarity in same manner
00:31
'I am Taiwanese', Czech senate president tells Taiwan's parliament
The president of the Czech senate shrugged off China’s angry response to his trip to Taiwan to offer his support to the island on Tuesday, telling the parliament in Taipei: “I am Taiwanese”.
Milos Vystrcil alluded to John F Kennedy’s celebrated “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech in Germany in 1963, saying: “Kennedy said freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.
“Then he used the sentence ‘I am a Berliner’ to pledge support to the people of Berlin and the highest value of freedom,” Vystrcil said in the first address to Taiwan’s legislative yuan by a foreign politician in 45 years.
“Please allow me to pledge support to the people of Taiwan in the same way. I am Taiwanese.”
Vystrcil spoke the last few words in Mandarin Chinese, for which he received a standing ovation.
On Monday, Beijing lashed out at the Czech delegation to Taiwan, which also included Prague mayor Zdenek Hrib, who dropped the capital’s twin city arrangement with Beijing and replaced it with Taipei.