Jiří Paroubek: Relations with China are returning in waves. It won't work without schools, cities and students.

In his speech, former Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek summarised his many years of experience in China, which he said he visited approximately twenty times between 2016 and 2024. He described not only his contacts with the academic and business communities, but also his participation in several major international summits where Belt and Road projects were discussed.

Paroubek admitted that he initially considered the Belt and Road Initiative to be more of a propaganda project. The turning point came with concrete results, which were discussed by representatives from dozens of countries. He highlighted the development of transport infrastructure and rail connections as a particularly important contribution, which he believes strengthens not only trade but also understanding between countries.

He devoted a significant part of his speech to what he calls „the Chinese path to socialism“. According to Paroubek, this is a combination of strategic planning and a market economy complemented by social sensitivity – i.e. a focus on raising living standards. He described China's goal of expanding the middle class to 700–800 million people as realistic and pointed out that there are already hundreds of millions of people living a middle-class lifestyle.

At the same time, however, he raised an uncomfortable question: what can the Czech Republic offer? According to Paroubek, the trade balance has been significantly unbalanced for a long time, and Czech industry is not currently in a position to provide China with know-how in key modern fields such as digitalisation or artificial intelligence – at most in specific areas of specialisation.

In a broader historical context, he described how Czech-Chinese relations have long developed in a „sine wave“ pattern. He recalled his own efforts to deepen cooperation during his time as prime minister in 2005–2006, as well as later initiatives associated with Miloš Zeman. However, according to him, many plans met with resistance from some politicians and the public and remained unfinished.

He considers systematic work in three areas to be key today: government and regional cooperation, the involvement of universities, and building a personnel base through students. Paroubek said that, in his opinion, China should do more to provide scholarships and support for Czech university students to study Chinese, similar to what the United States has been doing abroad for a long time. He also attributes an important role to cities and partnerships, which he believes have been unnecessarily ideologised in the past.

In conclusion, he expressed cautious optimism: in his view, the direction towards restoring relations makes sense, but the pace of change will be limited by domestic political practices and the number of problems that the Czech government must simultaneously address.

CMG