Czech Defence Minister to Attend Beijing Security Conference That the West Usually Sends Only Observers To

The Czech defence minister is planning to personally attend a security conference in Beijing that NATO and EU countries typically send only low-level observers to, rather than the heads of their defence ministries. The decision has already drawn sharp criticism from the opposition and China experts.

SPD chairman of the Chamber of Deputies Tomio Okamura calls the forum a "globally recognised security conference" attended by delegations from the US and other NATO and EU countries, and argues that the Czech Republic should not shy away from it. The opposition and China specialists, however, disagree.

"We're Breaking from the Common Line"

According to sinologist Martin Hála, director of the Sinopsis project, sending the defence minister to this event under the current circumstances is a pointless and harmful decision for relations with allies. "Sending the defence minister there under these conditions, and amid a tense international atmosphere, is, first of all, useless, and secondly, it will be viewed negatively by our allies as a break from the unified line on important security matters," Hála explained.

Journalist and Sinopsis analyst Kateřina Procházková noted that the conference, now in its thirteenth year, is, like everything else in China, under the control of the Communist Party. The sinologist drew a parallel with then-President Miloš Zeman's participation in the military parade in Beijing in 2015 — a step that also stood out noticeably from the practice followed among the Czech Republic's allies.

MPs Ask the Minister to Stay Home

Defence Minister Jana Černochová's — actually, Minister Zuna's — trip was also discussed by the parliamentary security committee, which on Thursday examined the issue of Chinese cyber-espionage against the Czech Republic. Committee chair Jana Černochová (ODS) urged coalition MPs to make another attempt to talk the minister out of the visit. "Given how Chinese cyber-espionage is affecting Czech state institutions and public administration, this trip is extremely inappropriate," she stressed.

Deputy committee chair Radek Koten (SPD) responded to the opposition's appeal with irony: "I think the minister is old enough to decide this for himself and doesn't need this kind of advice."

The former defence minister noted that this is not about refusing dialogue with China altogether — hearing different points of view at such forums can be useful, but doing so at the ministerial level is undesirable. According to her, constitutional officials — at least from countries that share common values with the Czech Republic, meaning NATO or EU states — do not typically attend such events.

Koten, however, sees nothing problematic in the minister's participation: "If the minister goes there without a mobile phone and doesn't let them 'bug' his jacket, then in my view everything's fine." In his opinion, the best way to understand an adversary is to gather information about them that makes it easier to identify them.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz