TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China Foreign Ministry on Monday (Jan. 30) said it was “in touch” with Prague after reports surfaced about Czech President-elect Petr Pavel’s scheduled phone call with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).

On Sunday (Jan. 29), a day after winning the election, Pavel, a former chair of NATO’s military committee between 2015 and 2018, talked to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. A phone call with Taiwan's leader was scheduled for Monday at 6 p.m. TST, his spokesperson Marketa Rehakova was cited by Reuters as saying.

The scheduled call was described as a “a highly unusual move” that is “likely to anger China.”

Shortly after Pavel’s plan was made public, the China Foreign Ministry was reported as saying it had contacted Prague over the call. "The Chinese side...is currently seeking verification with the Czech side, (we) hope the Czech side strictly upholds the one-China principle," it was cited as saying.

Pavel will succeed Milos Zeman, who was known for his support of closer ties with China. During the election campaign, Pavel had publicly expressed his disagreement with Zeman's China policy, advocating closer trade relations with European countries with shared democratic values.

In a previous media interview, he also expressed his support of building a close tie with Taiwan while following the one China policy as held by the European Union. An active business and technology partnership with Taiwan serves the best interest of Czech people, he added.

As of 8 p.m. TST on Monday, the Presidential Office has not commented on the issue.