Injecting New Impetus.docVIP

Injecting New Impetus 　　When Xi Jinping’s plane touched down in Prague， capital of the Czech Republic， on March 28， it marked the first time a Chinese president paid a state visit since it established diplomatic relations with the former nation of Czechoslovakia 67 years ago. It was also Xi’s first trip to Europe this year. 　　Due to the pro-Western and hawkish stance that laced previous Czech policies toward China， relations between the two had long been tepid， despite enjoying growing bilateral economic cooperation in recent years. Since Milos Zeman of the Czech’s Social Democrat Party assumed the presidency in March 2013， however， relations are now developing at a fast pace， and the tone has changed completely. 　　In discussing the significance of Xi’s visit， President Zeman said to China Central Television （CCTV）， “It’s a new start， since we used to have terrible relations with China and the previous government gave in to pressure from the United States and the European Union（EU）.” He said that Prague now formulates foreign policy based on its own interests. 　　In just the last two years， Zeman has paid two visits to China， and the presidents of the two countries have met four times. Last September， the Czech president was the only head of state from an EU country to participate in the ceremony in Beijing celebrating the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. His presence alone highlighted the warming relationship between Beijing and Prague. 　　 Creating a model 　　Chinese researchers noted that President Xi’s selection of the Czech Republic as the destina-tion of his first state trip to a Central and Eastern Europe （CEE） country is not merely due to increasingly cozy relations. Another account is that the fast-developing China-Czech cooperation is of great value in furthering China’s cooperation with regional countries. In other words， sound bilateral cooperation