Miloš Vystrčil

Miloš Vystrčil
Vystrčil in 2021
President of the Senate
Incumbent
Assumed office
19 February 2020
Preceded byJaroslav Kubera
Governor of Vysočina Region
In office
7 December 2004 – 14 November 2008
Preceded byFrantišek Dohnal
Succeeded byJiří Běhounek
Leader of the Civic Democratic Party
in the Czech Senate
In office
8 November 2016 – 19 February 2020
Preceded byJaroslav Kubera
Succeeded byMartin Červíček
Senator from Jihlava
Incumbent
Assumed office
23 October 2010
Preceded byVáclav Jehlička
Personal details
Born (1960-10-08) 8 October 1960 (age 64)
Dačice, Czechoslovakia
Political partyODS
Alma materMasaryk University
Websitehttp://www.vystrcil.cz/

Miloš Vystrčil (Czech pronunciation: [ˈmɪloʃ ˈvɪstr̩tʃɪl], born 10 August 1960) is a Czech politician serving as the President of the Senate since 2020 and Senator from Jihlava district since 2010. Vystrčil previously served as Mayor of Telč and governor of Vysočina Region.

Biography

[edit]

He was born in Dačice in 1960. He studied math and physics at Masaryk University and became a teacher. Vystrčil joined the Civic Democratic Party in 1991. He became part of Telč town assembly in 1994. He was elected Mayor of Telč in 1998 and remained in the position until 2001.[1]

Vystrčil participated in 2000 regional election and became member of regional assembly in Vysočina. He was regional Governor in 2004–2008. In 2010 he ran in Senate election for Seat in Jihlava. He defeated Social Democrat Václav Stehlík and became Senator.[2] In 2016 Vystrčil was reelected.[3]

Following the death of Jaroslav Kubera, Vystrčil was nominated for the position of President of the Senate in 2020 election. Besides the Civic Democratic Party his candidacy was endorsed by KDU-ČSL, Czech Social Democratic Party and ANO 2011.[4] Vystrčil won the election and became the new Senate President on 19 February 2020.[5] After the Senate's elections (first round held on 2-3 October 2020, second round held on 9-10 October 2020) he was re-elected in a secret vote on 11 November 2020 by 73 from 77 votes.[6]

August–September 2020 visit to Taiwan

[edit]
See also: Czech Republic–Taiwan relations
President of the Legislative Yuan Yu Shyi-kun awards Vystrčil a First Class Diplomatic Medal
Miloš delivers a speech in the Taiwanese parliament.

Vystrčil announced on 9 June 2020 that he would make a trip with a business delegation to Taiwan, as his predecessor Kubera had planned before his death. This step was against a recommendation by the government of the Czech Republic, which adheres to a One China policy and has only unofficial ties with Taiwan, and met with strong condemnation and unspecified threats by the Chinese government.[7][8] A delegation led by Vystrčil arrived in Taipei on 30 August 2020. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reacted by issuing a sharply worded statement, calling the visit a "provocation".[9] In response, the Czech Foreign Minister summoned the Chinese envoy to Prague,[9] and also China summoned the Czech envoy.[10]

In Taiwan, Vystrčil met the President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen, and delivered a speech in the parliament of Taiwan. In his address, Vystrčil declared "I am a Taiwanese" in Mandarin, alluding to the phrase Ich bin ein Berliner that John F. Kennedy had used in one of his most famous speeches.[10] The move led Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to state that Vystrčil's trip had "crossed a red line".[11] In response, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who had been hosting Wang for an official visit at the time when Wang made his statements, said that "Europeans operate in foreign and security policy very closely with one another", and indirectly referred to Wang's statements as "threats" which were not in line with the expectations of the European Union.[12]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "RNDr. Miloš Vystrčil - životopis". Naši Politici (in Czech). Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  2. ^ "Starosta, hejtman a teď senátor. Vystrčil se vrátil a stoupá výš". iDNES.cz. 25 October 2010. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  3. ^ "Senátor je zase z Telče. Vystrčilovi k obhajobě gratuloval šéf ODS". iDNES.cz. 15 October 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  4. ^ Šustr, Ladislav (6 February 2020). "Kuberovo dědictví. Růžička by jako šéf Senátu na Tchaj-wan jel, Vystrčil vyčkává". echo24.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  5. ^ "Vystrčil z ODS vede Senát. Zváží, zda pojede na Tchaj-wan, jak chtěl Kubera". iDNES.cz. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  6. ^ "Český Senát znovu povede Miloš Vystrčil". Senate of the Czech Republic (in Czech). 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  7. ^ Muller, Robert; Blanchard, Ben (9 June 2020). "Czech Senate speaker to visit Taiwan in trip that could irk China". Reuters. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  8. ^ "Czech Senate speaker plans to visit Taiwan, angering China". Associated Press. 9 June 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Czechs summon Chinese envoy over threats made against politician visiting Taiwan". Hong Kong Free Press / AFP. 31 August 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  10. ^ a b "'I am a Taiwanese', Czech Speaker Vystrcil tells Taiwan parliament". Aljazeera.com. 1 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  11. ^ "'I am Taiwanese': Czech official angers China after Taipei speech". Deutsche Welle. 1 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  12. ^ Wu, Huizhong (1 September 2020). "Defying China's wrath, Czech senator delivers Taiwan speech". The Washington Post / AP. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
Political offices
Preceded by Governor of Vysočina Region
2004–2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Czech Senate
2020–present 		Incumbent
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