Several Taiwanese scholars expressed their regrets regarding the death of former Czech President Vaclav Havel Dec. 18.
“Havel, who insisted on the value of democracy, was very friendly toward Taiwan,” said Cheng Chin-mo, director of the Department of Global Political Economy at New Taipei-based Tamkang University.
“He was always able to use flexible methods to protect Taiwan’s status and rights in the Czech Republic in the face of the diplomatic competition between Taipei and Beijing,” Cheng pointed out. Czech leaders also had more frequent exchanges with Taiwan than those from any other Central or Eastern European country, he added.
According to Cheng, Havel’s death will not immediately affect bilateral relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic. “The democratic values Havel created have become deeply rooted into the minds of Czechs, allowing the country to avoid political interference when dealing with cross-strait relations,” he said, adding that this flexible and open style has led to a concentration of Taiwan’s Central and Eastern European investment in the Czech Republic.
Francis Yi-hua Kan, chief executive of the EU Center at National Chengchi University in Taipei, said Havel used the soft power of morality to lead the democratization movement. “Without Havel, the country would not have been able to move stably toward democracy.”
Born Oct. 5, 1936 in Prague, Havel was a poet, dramatist and writer. He led the Velvet Revolution in 1989, which toppled communism in his country, and later became the first elected Czech President. (KML-THN)