On November 7，Radek Vondráček，President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, and his delegation paid a visit to BFSU. Other members of his delegation included Vladimir Tomšík, Czech ambassador to China, Radim Fiala, Chairman of the Economic Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, and Martina Tauberová, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade. President Yang Dan met with the delegation and attended the speech session chaired by Vice President Yan Guohua.
Yang welcomed the delegation on behalf of BFSU and University Council Chairman Wang Dinghua. He spoke highly of the friendly relations between China and Czech, and highlighted the contribution of the first generation of BFSU teachers who were pioneers in Czech language teaching and research in China. According to Yang, 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the People’s Republic of China and the Czech Republic, and also the 65th anniversary of the launch of the Czech language program at BFSU. For years, the Czech government and embassy in China have provided great support to BFSU. Finally, Yang expressed his wish for stronger ties between our two sides and a better future for China-Czech relations and Bohemian studies in China.
At the speech session, Vondráček spoke on the role of Czech in Central Europe and the European Union. According to him, Czech, with its strong industrial strength, adopts an open trade policy while complying with EU rules. As China is one of the world leaders in infrastructure building, Czech would benefit from participation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. In fact, China is the largest trade partner of Czech in Asia. Czech is ready to further expand its cooperation with China and promote the friendly relations between the two countries. During the Q & A session, Vondráček answered questions about Czech’s intention to join the euro zone, impact of Brexit on Czech, future prospects of China-Czech relations, etc.
Before the speech, students from the Czech program of BFSU performed Central European folk dance and sang a Czech song for the Czech guests.
