China warns against travel to Czech Republic as tensions rise over Taiwan
- Beijing cites increase in coronavirus cases in European country as reason for caution
- But warning comes after high-profile visit to Taipei by Czech Senate speaker
China has warned its citizens against travelling to the Czech Republic amid tensions between the two countries over Taiwan.
China has largely restricted overseas travel since March and although Beijing cited the spike in infections as the reason for the warning, it came soon after a high-profile visit by a Czech politician to Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own.
00:31
'I am Taiwanese', Czech senate president tells Taiwan's parliament
Beijing has vowed to take back the island and sees any official visit to Taiwan by foreign politicians as a challenge to its sovereignty.
01:28
China says Czech senate president will ‘pay heavy price’ for visiting Taiwan
The Czech Republic is one of Europe’s hottest destinations for Chinese tourists, with an estimated 612,000 Chinese travellers visiting the country last year. According to Czech government figures, China is the fourth-biggest source for tourists to the country, after Germany, Slovakia and Poland.
Dubbed “walking wallets”, more middle-class Chinese are travelling to destinations all over the world but are also increasingly used as a veiled means for Beijing to exert pressure on other governments.
In June, Beijing warned its citizens against visiting Australia because of “an increase in acts of racial discrimination against Chinese and Asians due to the Covid-19 pandemic”.
The authorities offered no specific examples and the warning was widely seen as part of Beijing’s response to Canberra’s call for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
Last year, in a move widely seen as an effort to pressure the independence-leaning administration of President Tsai Ing-wen, Beijing unexpectedly announced restrictions on travel to Taiwan, citing the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s “consistent efforts to push Taiwanese independence activities and incite hostility to the mainland”.
Beijing also used similar tactics in 2016 against South Korea over Seoul’s decision to host a US-backed anti-missile system, dealing a heavy blow to the South Korean tourism industry.
In November 2017, Beijing stopped group tours to the Pacific island of Palau in an apparent effort to pressure Palau to switch diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
