On the same day yesterday that Toyota Motor Manufacturing Czech Republic suspended car production for an indefinite period due to a shortage of computer chips from China, Pres.- elect Petr Pavel told the Financial Times that the CR stands to benefit more economically from Taiwan than from China and that “we will not behave as an ostrich to hide this reality.” Yet bilateral Czech trade with China is 20 times greater than with Taiwan. Martin Hála of Sinoposis, one of the most vocal Czech critics of Mainland China, told Czech Radio yesterday (at 22:25) that there is no replacement for China’s industrial output. Foxconn, the largest Taiwanese investor in the CR, said during covid in 2020 that most of its products require a constant flow of supplies from China and the neighboring region. China of course has the power to curtail its deliveries of supplies and to cripple Czech industry. Is this what Pavel wants? Was his comment an intentional act of sabotage? Or is he “merely” uninformed?

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