The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China condemned on Tuesday the fact that the newly elected Czech president Petr Pavel spoke on the phone with the president of Taiwan Tsai Ing-Wen, accusing Pavel of breaking his word and lacking credibility, Reuters reports, Agerpres reads.

Tsai Ing-Wen had a telephone conversation with Pavel on Monday, a diplomatic success for the island claimed by China, which has no official relations with Prague.

The spokeswoman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, said at the daily press conference that Beijing expressed its strong displeasure with this telephone conversation and conveyed this to the Czech side.

Mao Ning also questioned Pavel’s credibility for what she described as a shift in his position that Beijing’s claims over the self-governing island should be respected.

Petr Pavel pledged on Monday to strengthen his country’s ties with Taiwan, after a telephone discussion with the president and the island’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

President Tsai Ing-wen congratulated Petr Pavel on his victory in the second round of Saturday’s presidential election against populist billionaire Andrej Babis.

„I thanked her for the congratulations and assured her that Taiwan and the Czech Republic share the (same) values ​​of freedom, democracy and human rights,” the Czech president wrote on Twitter.

„We agreed to strengthen our partnership,” added the former general, who chaired NATO’s Military Committee from 2015 to 2018.

„I also expressed my hope to have the opportunity to meet President Tsai in person in the future,” he added.

According to the Taiwanese presidency, the call lasted almost 15 minutes, and the Taiwanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joseph Wu, also joined the discussion.

Agerpres