Miloš Vystrčil (, born 10 August 1960) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

politician serving as the President of the Senate and Senator from

Jihlava district Jihlava District is one of the five sub-divisions of Kraj Vysočina in the Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to ...

. Vystrčil previously served as Mayor of

Telč Telč (; german: Teltsch) is a town in the Jihlava District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 5,100 inhabitants. The town is well known for its historic centre, which is protected by law as an urban monument reservation ...

and governor of

Vysočina Region The Vysočina Region (; cs, Kraj Vysočina "Highlands Region", , ) is an administrative unit ( cs, kraj) of the Czech Republic, located partly in the south-eastern part of the historical region of Bohemia and partly in the south-west of the his ...

Biography

He was born in Dačice in 1960. He studied math and physics at

Masaryk University Masaryk University (MU) ( cs, Masarykova univerzita; la, Universitas Masarykiana Brunensis) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the se ...

and became a teacher. Vystrčil joined the Civic Democratic Party in 1991. He became part of Telč town assembly in 1994. He was elected Mayor of Telč in 1998 and remained in the position until 2001. Vystrčil participated in 2000 regional election and became member of regional assembly in Vysočina. He was regional Governor in 2004–2008. In 2010 he ran in Senate election for Seat in Jihlava. He defeated

Social Democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

Václav Stehlík and became Senator. In 2016 Vystrčil was reelected. Following the death of Jaroslav Kubera, Vystrčil was nominated for the position of President of the Senate in 2020 election. Besides the Civic Democratic Party his candidacy was endorsed by

KDU-ČSL KDU-ČSL (In Czech, the initials of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party; cs, Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová), often shortened to ('the populars') is a Christian-democrati ...

Czech Social Democratic Party The Czech Social Democratic Party ( cs, Česká strana sociálně demokratická, ČSSD, ) is a social-democratic political party in the Czech Republic. Sitting on the centre-left of the political spectrum and holding pro-European views, it is a ...

and

ANO 2011 ANO 2011, often shortened to simply ANO ("Yes" in English), the initials meaning Action of Dissatisfied Citizens ( cs, Akce nespokojených občanů), is a populist political party in the Czech Republic. The party was founded by Andrej Babiš. Hi ...

. Vystrčil won the election and became the new Senate President on 19 February 2020. After the Senate's elections (first round held on 2-3 October 2020, second round held on 9-10 October 2020) he was re-elected in a secret vote on 11 November 2020 by 73 from 77 votes.

August–September 2020 visit to Taiwan

Vystrčil announced on 9 June 2020 that he would make a trip with a business delegation to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, as his predecessor Kubera had planned before his death. This step was against a recommendation by the government of the Czech Republic, which adheres to a One China policy and has only unofficial ties with Taiwan, and met with strong condemnation and unspecified threats by the Chinese government. A delegation led by Vystrčil arrived in Taipei on 30 August 2020. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reacted by issuing a sharply worded statement, calling the visit a "provocation". In response, the Czech Foreign Minister summoned the Chinese envoy to Prague, and also China summoned the Czech envoy. In Taiwan, Vystrčil met the

President of Taiwan The president of the Republic of China, now often referred to as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (ROC), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The position once had au ...

Tsai Ing-wen Tsai Ing-wen (; born 31 August 1956) is a Taiwanese politician serving as president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2016. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Tsai is the first female president of Taiwan. She served as ...

, and delivered a speech in the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

of Taiwan. In his address, Vystrčil declared "I am a Taiwanese" in Mandarin, alluding to the phrase ''

Ich bin ein Berliner "" (; "I am a Berliner") is a speech by United States President John F. Kennedy given on June 26, 1963, in West Berlin. It is one of the best-known speeches of the Cold War and among the most famous anti-communist speeches. Twenty-two mont ...

'' that

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

had used in one of his most famous speeches. The move led Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to state that Vystrčil's trip had "crossed a red line". In response, German Foreign Minister

Heiko Maas Heiko Josef Maas (; born 19 September 1966) is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs (2018–2021) and as the Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protectio ...

, who had been hosting Wang for an official visit at the time when Wang made his statements, said that "Europeans operate in foreign and security policy very closely with one another", and indirectly referred to Wang's statements as "threats" which were not in line with the expectations of the European Union.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Vystrčil, Miloš 1960 births Living people Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic) governors Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic) mayors Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic) Senators Masaryk University alumni Mayors of places in the Czech Republic People from Jindřichův Hradec District Presidents of the Senate of the Czech Republic