Final Word from Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Lubomír Zaorálek has spent his tenure as foreign minister balancing between Andrew Schapiro and Petr Kellner, between the West and the East. The scales tipped eastward in Nov. of last year, when the CR signed the New Silk Road memorandum, which committed the CR to promoting Chinese interests within the EU. Some of the same wording can be found in the strategic partnership signed yesterday by Miloš Zeman and Xi Jinping, but Zaorálek was quick to declare last night that he managed to keep certain things out of the joint statement that the Chinese had wanted in it. He didn't name them, but a more specific version of what China means by the one-China policy was apparently among them. By not stating how the Czech one-China policy differs from the PRC's one-China policy, Zaorálek gave Beijing a PR and diplomatic coup. Still, by keeping out any mention of Market Economy Status, Zaorálek tipped the scales slightly back in favor of Schapiro. Czech foreign policy toward China is still not quite as "independent" as Zeman wants us to believe. [Czech Republic United States World Trade Organization WTO]