China to sever ties with Czech President over Dalai Lama visit

China has announced that it will suspend relations with Czech President Petr Pavel following his meeting with the Dalai Lama, heightening diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

Mr Pavel met the 14th Dalai Lama in India, amid heavy resistance from Beijing, which regards the Tibetan spiritual leader as a separatist.

The Czech presidential administration stated that the meeting with the Dalai Lama, who turned 90 in July, was private.

Beijing’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian wrote on August 12 that Beijing “strongly deplores and firmly opposes this, and has raised serious concerns with the Czech side.”

“China chooses to end all contact with Pavel due to the seriousness of his provocative action.”

The Beijing leadership has frequently been enraged by the central European nation’s outspoken denunciations of human rights abuses in China as well as its close diplomatic and commercial relations with Taiwan.

In May, Czechs blamed state-linked Chinese hackers for a cyber attack against the Czech Foreign Ministry’s unclassified networks.

The Chinese Embassy in Prague later dismissed the charges as “unsubstantiated”.

On August 12, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told reporters that Mr Pavel’s encounter with the Dalai Lama was private and asked China to accept it as such, according to reports.

Mr Pavel, a former senior Czech military and NATO official, was elected president two years ago. He succeeded Milos Zeman, a staunch supporter of greater economic ties with China.

The Dalai Lama had a close friendship with Vaclav Havel, the first Czech post-communist president, who frequently welcomed him in Prague.