Final Word from Monday, April 4, 2016

When Miloš Zeman causes a mess in foreign relations, it's the job of Hynek Kmoníček of the Castle to clean it up. Soon after Zeman declared on Chinese TV that the former Czech government had been submissive toward the USA and EU, Kmoníček rushed to explain to Deník what Zeman meant. Czech-Chinese relations changed, he said, the moment Zeman went to Beijing last summer for the WWII celebrations. There was a six-month effort by large EU countries to push through a mandatory ban on attendance, he said, but the CR was among those opposing it, and this benefited Czech national interests. This is a fascinating explanation not only because it leaves out any mention of submissiveness toward the USA, but also because it indirectly gives the credit for the shift in policy toward China to Bohuslav Sobotka. He's the one who publicly backed Zeman's trip to Beijing by saying that it shouldn't be compared to the earlier trip to Moscow. [Czech Republic ÚOHS United States European Union Television World War Two anniversary]