China is opening up to the world and offering opportunities that other countries, including the Czech Republic, could seize. This is the message of today's discussion, organized in Prague by the web daily iportaL24.cz in cooperation with China Media Group (CMG) and the Czech-Chinese Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
CMG representative Mr Zhang reminded that a few days ago, two important meetings ended in Beijing, not only for China itself but also for the world: the All-China People's Congress (ACPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The theme was "China's Opportunities, the World's Benefits". "This theme reflects not only the dynamism of China's economy but also its growing role in global development. China is increasingly opening up to the world, offering opportunities that can be seized not only by its citizens but also by partners around the world, including the Czech Republic," said a representative of China Media Group in a pre-recorded speech.
"The Chinese economy remains one of the main engines of global growth. Despite challenges such as geopolitical tensions or changes in global supply chains, China has maintained a steady growth rate. This year's GSLZ meeting highlighted that China's GDP grew by 5.2 % in 2024, an impressive figure in the context of global economic uncertainty. And China has set its GDP growth target for this year at about 5 %, demonstrating China's determination to stabilize employment, prevent risks and improve people's livelihoods, while serving medium- and long-term development goals, he pointed out.
China is focusing on boosting domestic consumption and innovation as the main pillars of growth, he said. Programmes to encourage consumption, such as discount campaigns, tax breaks for small and medium-sized enterprises and infrastructure investment, are helping to maintain economic vitality. "At the same time, China continues to open its market to foreign investment, creating new opportunities for international companies. For the Czech Republic, this means an opportunity to deepen economic cooperation, especially in areas such as high-tech industry, green energy and digital transformation. The Chinese market offers huge potential for Czech exporters, not only in traditional sectors such as the automotive industry, but also in new areas such as biotechnology and artificial intelligence," Mr Zhang calculated, adding that China's modernisation is a unique model that combines economic development with sustainability and social harmony.
China's modernisation is based on five key principles. These are innovation, sustainability, social justice and cultural self-confidence. "China stresses the importance of preserving its cultural identity while engaging in global dialogue. What this means for the world is that China offers not only economic opportunities but also inspiration to address global challenges such as climate change, technological innovation and social inequality," he said.
He added that China is no longer in a "growth at all costs" mode, but is focusing on qualitative growth. That is, it is focusing on efficiency, sustainability and innovation instead of just quantitative expansion.
"China offers the world not only economic opportunities, but also inspiration to address global challenges. This year's GMSC and PRCPS showed that China is committed to continuing on the path of openness, innovation and sustainable development. This represents a unique opportunity for the Czech Republic to deepen cooperation with China and harness its dynamism for its own development. China's opportunities are opportunities for the whole world. Together we can create a future that is prosperous, sustainable and inclusive," added the CMG representative.
Former Prime Minister and Chairman of the ČSSD Jiří Paroubek said that the words of the CMG representative were to be greatly appreciated. "As Prime Minister, I have made an honest effort to develop relations with China. There were no obstacles, and even Václav Havel, with whom I talked about it, had no objections to my going to China," Paroubek mentioned the former Czech President.
However, further political developments went in a different direction and the Czech Republic is paying the price, in the opinion of the ČSSD chair. However, he visited China as chairman of the strongest opposition party - the Czech Social Democratic Party - and then, after a long pause, about 20 times between 2016 and 2024. In all areas, I saw that China was going the right way. And the right path for the Chinese economy, in my view, is that it combines plannedness with a market economy, and one of the principles it sets out in this goal is social justice," Paroubek said, adding that he understood as early as 2005, when China accounted for 4 or 5 percent of the world's GDP, that sooner or later it would become "the workshop of the world." "And it has indeed become so, and today practically one-fifth of the world's GDP is realised in China," he stressed.
He suggested that the United States and its new administration are beginning to understand this. "I think it is necessary for the EU leaders to perceive this as well. Now the question is whether they are capable of doing so, whether they are not so ideologically biased, which is a very impractical feature nowadays with the pragmatic policy of the new US leadership," Paroubek pointed out.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Czech-Chinese Chamber of Commerce Vojtěch Filip He followed this up by saying that China is not to be feared militarily. "One of the principles of their policy, based on Confucianism, is that China does not wage war and waits for the corpse of the enemy to float down the river," Filip said.
He said that the companies that address his chamber operate on what is a priority for them, which is digital technology and energy for the Czech Republic. Another example he gave was the healthcare sector. "A major Chinese company is moving to Prague, boasting that by recognising the human genome it is able to replace transplants with the growth of individual organs," Filip described. "This company is competing with the Americans, who have similar technology, because there are two companies in the world that are doing this and have some results. And we can be happy that the Chinese company will be moving to us, so that we can participate not only in its operations here, but in all of its research and development with the aim of significantly improving the lives of those who are sick and need organs that are already newly replaceable by growth," Filip revealed, adding that this is the news of the last month.
Businessman and chairman of the Směr Czech Republic party also linked to the health sector Daniel Januj, which has been trying for some time to cooperate with the Chinese side in the field of pharmaceuticals, especially in the area of stem cells, but the European Union is reacting with various embargoes, tariffs and threats, thereby damaging the cooperation. "China wants to give us the technology or tell us how to do it, but our State Institute for Drug Control blocks all of this, so we often go to Slovakia, where they have their own SKL. Unfortunately, we are dealing with embargoes here and I hope that this will change with the new government," Januj said.
Vice-Chairman of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and Vice President of the Executive Committee of the World Peace Council Milan Krajca recalled last year's 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the PRC and the former Czechoslovakia. "That anniversary allowed for a kind of comparison between the journey our Chinese friends have made in three quarters of a century and where our country is today. One of the latest reports talks about Chinese cars, and the Czech Republic is still a car power. 360 units of SUVs produced in China by the Shery concern have been put on sale. And how long do you think it took for these 360 vehicles to be sold in the Czech Republic, an automotive superpower? In 20 minutes! I was amazed. It confirms the words that the Chinese economy today produces quality products that are able to outperform competitors in terms of price," Krajča said, describing the fight against poverty as an extraordinary Chinese achievement. "Over the past 45 years, they have managed to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. According to World Bank statistics, there were 88 % people below the poverty line sometime in 1981 and today the number is close to zero. Especially in the last period, a huge amount of energy and money has been invested to lift people out of poverty," Krajča said.
Chairman of the HOME Party David Tiger Ploc then added that when he listened to the CMG representative's opening speech, he realized that "China offers us basically everything", while the Czech government only wants obedience. Moreover, the European Union, he said, has moved to hard militarism, which is one example of Nazism. "We have a big problem, yet we will not sit back and wait for the regime to turn around. We will continue to try to awaken people's awareness that there is a better world out there. And that world is called BRICS. I would like to thank all those who are talking about BRICS and who are helping to show people this better world. And that is why we decided, because we have censorship and we are not invited anywhere, to talk about BRICS, to wake people up in a non-political way," said Ploc, whose party was the first in the Czech Republic to call for our country's inclusion in the BRICS community in addition to leaving the EU.
That is why she helped found a non-political association called the Czech Friends of BRICS. Its chairman Martin Teyrovsky was also present at today's discussion, and said that "a strong community of countries on the level of friendship and cooperation is the basis for the future functioning of this planet". He disclosed that people can find all the information on the website www.brics-cz.info.
This topic was also addressed by the chairwoman of the Czechoslovak Peace Forum (ČSMF) Vladimíra Vítová. She said that she had been invited to Moscow several times for various international conferences under the BRICS banner. "Unfortunately, none of the most prestigious politicians from the Czech Republic attended the conference as did those from Slovakia - for example, Štefan Harabin or Ján Čarnogurský," she said. "We assume that the hegemony of Euro-Atlantic civilisation is over and the West is confronted with the fact that the time of being first among equals is over. The BRISCS countries propose to the West, on the contrary, to be equal among equals. So now the battle is on for the future of the world and the rules by which the world and humanity will live. It is a real battle between sovereign nations, to which all the BRICS countries belong, and transnational globalists with paid politicians behind them who have no relationship whatsoever with nation states. These are politicians within the European Union, for example, and our own politicians who are in government today. And the real world community of the BRICS countries cannot, in principle, negotiate with them, because what would it negotiate with them if they are, in fact, just managers and not representatives of sovereign states asserting the supremacy of international law? And at the head of these sovereign states are the Russian Federation and China, whose position is based on the rejection of any form of colonialism and neo-colonialism," Vítová added.
He followed it up Karel Nedbálek, a lawyer, electrical engineer, writer, business manager and university teacher, who in 1991-1992 was the CEO of DAK START Trenčín, the second largest successor organization of DAK Slušovice. It was in the framework of business and ideological relations that he founded the Czechoslovak-Chinese Friendship Association. The cooperation he established in the past has continued recently, when, according to him, there is a significant interest in Czech glassware, but also, for example, in beer and wine.
Chairman of the Society for European Dialogue (SPED), a member organisation of the European left-wing movement TRANSFORM! EUROPE, Jiří Málek He added that if one wants to understand what is going on in China, then one must understand what is behind it. "Whether one likes it or not, and for many it is a red rag on a bull, China is a communist country governed by Marxism. Admittedly with Chinese characteristics, but frankly, we don't have a problem with it. But I think that the contribution of SPED could be that we would like to open a normal discussion on what it actually means," Malek continued.
An even different perspective was offered by the long-time mayor of Zdibi u Prahy, today's councillor and former vice-chairman of the Czech Social Democratic Party Jan Hard. "China is the fourth largest country in the world. It has the second largest population. Cooperation with it worked in the 1980s. We were partners. But the so-called revolution broke off a lot of our relations with the East - and it doesn't matter anymore if it's China or another Asian country where trade worked. This is one problem. And we have to admit one thing: we are not behind China in technology. We are slowly crippled," Hardy said, adding that we need to take inspiration from China and not look at how ostracized it is. "Even other world powers are criticised for defending their own country," Hardy compared.
He also found inspiration in the harsh punishments that the Chinese judiciary metes out to corrupt politicians. "We could learn from that. Those who harm the people deserve nothing but life imprisonment or even the death penalty. Our government would also function differently if it had this sword of Damocles hanging over it. It is not a question of whether it is humane or inhumane, but it is for the benefit of the citizens of the country," Hard said.
A similar comparison, which does not sound positive for the Czech Republic, was used by energy expert and advisor to MEP Ondřej Knotka (ANO) Vladimir Vlk not only in "his" energy sector, but also in education, where he spoke literally about the "decline of Czech education". Without naming names, he mentioned two Czech professors whom he wonders could have been awarded degrees. However, it was clear to everyone which names were on his tongue. "We propose and approve such names? This is the decline of our education. While in China they educate people and send them abroad. And these are the fundamental things where we should work together," he said, and in keeping with his specialisation, he described cheap energy as a prerequisite for prosperity in all sectors, which the Czech Republic, unlike China, does not meet. "We are living in chaos here," he criticised.
The education sector was also touched by a long-time teacher, later a member of the Czech Parliament and current statutory vice-chair of the ČSSD Jana Volfová. "Unfortunately, the level of education in our country is rapidly declining. And I tell all my students: your competition is not next door in your class, not even in France or Germany. Your competition is growing in Pakistan and in Russia, and especially in China. And if you are not better than the Chinese, you will one day be doing the most menial job," Volf predicted.
Regional representative of the Central Bohemian Region for STAČILO! - United Left Pavel Havranek added his experience from his visit to Uzbekistan, where he encountered clean stations, better trains and cheaper tickets. "It's because they cooperate with China, but also with other countries. That's what it looks like when a country is not afraid to cooperate with everyone, whether the technology is Chinese, European, American or Russian," he said, and his call for cooperation was backed up by the chairman of the Seniors Belong Together movement Jaroslav Pollak. "China? I say yes!" Pollak said.
English 
Czech 
Spanish 
French 
Italian 
Russian 
Chinese 
German