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 *Czech (surnam ...

politician serving as the

President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the Speaker (politics), speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's Order of succession, succes ...

since 2020 and

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

from Jihlava district since 2010. Vystrčil previously served as Mayor of

Telč Telč (; ) is a town in 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 as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservatio ...

and governor of

Vysočina Region The Vysočina Region (; ) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic. Its capital is Jihlava. The region is located in the central part of the country. It is one of just three in the country (the others being Prague and the Central Boh ...

Biography

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

Masaryk University Masaryk University (MU) (; ) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno, it now consists of ten faculties and 35,115 students. It is named after To ...

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 Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

Václav Stehlík and became Senator. In 2016 Vystrčil was reelected. Following the death of Jaroslav Kubera, Vystrčil was nominated for the position of

in 2020 election. Besides the Civic Democratic Party his candidacy was endorsed by

KDU-ČSL KDU-ČSL (In Czech language, Czech, the initials of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party; ), often shortened to ("the populars"), is a Christian democracy, Christian democratic list of political parties in the Czec ...

Czech Social Democratic Party Social Democracy (, SOCDEM), known as the Czech Social Democratic Party (, ČSSD) until 10 June 2023, is a social democratic political party in the Czech Republic. Sitting on the centre-left of the political spectrum and holding pro-European ...

and ANO 2011. 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. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, 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

Tsai Ing-wen Tsai Ing-wen (; pinyin: ''Cài Yīngwén''; born 31 August 1956) is a Taiwanese politician and legal scholar who served as the seventh president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2016 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party ...

, 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: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

of Taiwan. In his address, Vystrčil declared "I am a Taiwanese" in Mandarin, alluding to the phrase '' Ich bin ein Berliner'' that John F. Kennedy 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, 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:Vystrcil, 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 Dačice Presidents of the Senate of the Czech Republic