Petříček tells Chinese ambassador publicising private meeting content inappropriate

The Czech minister of foreign affairs, Tomáš Petříček, on Thursday told the Chinese ambassador to Prague, Zhang Jianmin, that publicising the content of a private meeting was inappropriate. This was a reference to talks between Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Mr. Zhang before Christmas. Afterwards the Chinese envoy said on social media that the Czech leader had climbed down over banning Chinese-made Huawei mobile phones at the Office of the Government. Mr. Babiš later said this was a lie.

Mr. Petříček said he believed Thursday's discussion would ensure similar misunderstandings did not occur again.

The Czech prime minister this week ordered 160 key Czech organisations to look into whether they were at risk from using products made by Huawei or another Chinese firm, ZTE.

Author: Ian Willoughby