TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said Saturday that she would not be deterred by illegal CCP acts, following reports that Chinese diplomats allegedly plotted to ram her car during an official visit to the Czech Republic last year.
In a post on X, Hsiao said that she enjoyed her visit to Prague and is grateful to the Czech authorities for their hospitality and efforts to ensure her safety, per Liberty Times. She stressed that, “The CCP's unlawful activities will NOT intimidate me from voicing Taiwan's interests in the international community.”
She included a link to a Reuters report citing Czech officials who said that Chinese diplomats and intelligence agents shadowed her and plotted a physical assault during last year's Prague trip.
Czech Military Intelligence Director Petr Bartovsky confirmed to the news site iROZHLAS that personnel from the military section of China's embassy in Prague were tasked with surveilling Hsiao's visit to the country. This allegedly included a plan to run into the vehicle carrying her.
Two weeks after her visit, Seznam reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light in the center of Prague after Hsiao's motorcade passed through an intersection. However, Bartovsky said that the incident occurred because the deputy military attache was trying to keep up with Hsiao, and the plan to crash into her vehicle was not carried out.
The Presidential Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Mainland Affairs Council condemned the actions on Friday. The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China issued a statement urging global condemnation of what it said would have “constituted state terror” if successful.
The X account run by Democratic lawmakers from the US House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party on Saturday said the “CCP's planned attack” on Hsiao is a “clear escalation that highlights the growing threat of the CCP’s transnational repression.” They added that this was the reason for the reintroduction of the Taiwan Allies Fund Act, which seeks to shield Taipei's diplomatic allies from Beijing's poaching tactics.
