On Tuesday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Czech President Pavel insisted on visiting India to meet with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama despite repeated representations and firm opposition from China. "The Chinese side has decided to cease any engagement with Pavel."
When responding to a question from China Daily regarding Pavel’s meeting with the Dalai Lama, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that Pavel went ahead with meeting the Dalai Lama in India despite repeated representations and firm opposition from China, which seriously violated the Czech government's political commitments to the Chinese government and harmed China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. China is strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposed to this, and has lodged stern representations with the Czech side.
Lin Jian also said that in response to Pavel's egregious provocative actions, China has decided not to engage in any exchanges with him.
In July of this year, Pavel met the Dalai Lama in India despite strong opposition from Beijing. The Czech President’s office stated that Pavel’s meeting was conducted in a private capacity. The Dalai Lama just celebrated his 90th birthday last month.
According to Bloomberg, the Czech Republic’s public criticism of China’s human rights violations and its active development of diplomatic and economic relations with Taipei have repeatedly angered Beijing. In May this year, the Czech Republic accused Chinese hackers linked to the Chinese government of launching cyberattacks against the Czech Foreign Ministry’s non-classified networks. The Chinese Embassy in Prague subsequently refuted the accusations, calling them unfounded.
Pavel previously served as a senior officer in the Czech military and a NATO official. He was elected Czech president two years ago, succeeding Zeman, who advocated strengthening economic ties with China.