I. Review of the Bilateral Political Relations

China and the former Czechoslovakia established diplomatic relations on October 6, 1949. When the Czech Republic became an independent sovereign state on January 1, 1993, China extended its recognition and established diplomatic relations with it at ambassadorial level on the same day.

In June 1993, Czech Foreign Minister J. Zieleniec visited China. In September 1994, Vice Chairman Yeh Xuanping of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) visited Czech. In October, Czech Prime Minister Klaus visited China. Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo and Czech Deputy Foreign Minister signed and exchanged the notes, affirming that the treaties and agreements signed between China and the former Czech and Slovak Federal Republic continue to be effective.

In June 1995, in disregard of China's opposition and repeated representations, Czech allowed Lien Chan, ?President of the Executive Yuan? of Taiwan, to visit Czech, and Czech President Havel and Prime Minster Klaus met separately with him, severely damaging the relations between China and Czech. In October, Taiwan's ?Economic Minister? Chang Ping-kun led a 130-member entrepreneurs delegation to visit Czech. In the same month, Czech President Havel openly preached ?two Chinas?, and supported Taiwan's ?re-entry? into the UN at a press conference in New York, where he was attending the special session of the UN General Assembly in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UN. Against this China waged a series of justified but restrained struggles and temporarily suspended the exchange of visits by officials above the level of vice minister. Through repeated representations by China, the Czech Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister openly stressed on different occasions that Czech would adhere to the principled stand of one China and hoped to promote the relations of cooperation in all fields with China.

In November 1995, Czech First Deputy Foreign Minister came to China for consultations between the two Foreign Ministries in an effort to mend the relations chilled by the Taiwan question. He reaffirmed the Czech Government's adherence to the principled stand of one China.

In April 1996, Vice Premier and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen visited Czech. In April 1997, Vice Premier Wu Bangguo paid a visit to Czech. In June 1997, China and Czech reached an agreement on the retention of the Czech Consulate-General in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. In September 1998, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and Czech Foreign Minister Kavan met in New York during the session of the UN General Assembly. In May 1999, Foreign Minister Kavan officially visited China. In December 1999, Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman visited China, and the two sides issued the Joint Communiqu¨¦ of the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Czech Republic.

In June 2000, the vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress (NPC) Buhe visited Czech. In October, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan met with Czech Foreign Minister Kavan during the session of the UN General Assembly. It was regrettable that in October that year, the Czech side, in disregard of China's repeated persuasion and representations, allowed Lee Teng-hui and Dalai to attend the international conference ?Forum 2000? held in Czech and Czech President Havel met with them, causing renewed damages to the Sino-Czech relations which had been in the process of normal development.

In February 2002, Li Zhaoxing, Vice Foreign Minister, went to the Czech Republic for consultations between the foreign ministries of the two countries. In June, State Councilor Wang Zhongyu visited the Czech Republic. In July State Councilor Wu Yi visited the Czech Republic.

II. Bilateral Economic and Trade Relations and Economic and Technological Cooperation

After Czech became independent in January 1993, China and Czech began to conduct direct economic and trade cooperation. As the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries was carried out in the single mode of import and export trade, the trade volume was kept at a low level with China in the fairly big surplus.

According to the statistics of the Chinese customs, the trade volume between the two countries stands at US$340 million in 1993, US$278 million in 1994, US$227 million in 1995, US$232 million in 1996, US$278 million in 1997, US$291 million in 1998, and US$357 million in 1999. In 2000, the trade volume reaches US$437 million, increasing by 22.5% over 1999, and of the total volume China's export is US$354 million and import US$82.95 million, up by 14.4% and 15% respectively. Up to the end of 1999, Czech invested in 181 projects in China, and the contracted amount of investment is US$105 million and the actual amount of investment US$34.74 million. In 2001, the bilateral trade volume stood at U.S.$ 615 million. In was U.S.$ 470 million from January to July 2002, up 48.8% than the same period of last year. China's export amounted to U.S.$ 403 million, up 51%; China's import reached U.S.$ 71.64 million, up 37.7%. By the end of 2001, the number of the Czech-funded projects in China was 226 with U.S.$ 180 million of contractual capital and U.S.$ 48.99 million of used capital.

In February 1993, the Sino-Czech agreement on customs cooperation became effective. In October, Czech Industry and Trade Minister V. Dlouhy paid a visit to China and signed a government trade agreement between the two countries. In 1994, the Czech Prime Minister visited China and the two sides signed a joint statement on the continued supply of two sets of 500,000-kilowatt power plant equipment for the Shen Tou Power Plant in China. In December, Czech held the exhibition of Czech Trade Week in China. In September 1996, Minister Bao Xuding of Machine Building Industry visited Czech. In December, Czech Minister Dlouhy of Industry and Trade visited China again. In August 1997, Chinese Power Industry Minister Shi Dazhen visited Czech. In September 1999, Czech Industry and Trade Minister Gregor visited China. In October, Chinese Minister Shi Guangsheng of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation visited Czech. In December, Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman visited China, and the two countries signed the contract for China to import two sets of 500,000-kilowatt power plant equipment. In December 2000, Czech Vice Minister of Industry and Trade came to China to attend the fourth meeting of the Sino-Czech Inter-Government Mixed Committee of Economy and Trade. In March 2002, Zhou Keren, Vice Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, went to the Czech Republic to preside over the fifth meeting of the China-Czech Economic and Trade Mixed Commission. In July, during State Councilor Wu Yi's visit to the Czech Republic, both sides signed the contract for importing 700 Scota cars from the Czech Republic. On August 20, the inauguration ceremony for the second phase construction of the No. 2 Shentou Power Plant of Shanxi Province was held, marking the official start of the project.

III. Bilateral Exchanges and Cooperation in Culture, Science and Technology and Education

After the disintegration of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, the cultural exchanges between China and Czech through government channels were on the decrease. In January 1994, China sponsored the Tibetan Art Exhibition in Czech. In 1995, Chinese Vice Cultural Minister Chen Changben called off his visit to Czech for consultation and signing of the cultural cooperation program between the two countries as a result of Lien Chan's visit to Czech. In November 1996, the Czech deputy minister of culture paid a visit to China and made a commitment to stick to the principled stand of one China. The two sides signed the protocol on cultural cooperation for the period of 1997-1999 between the two cultural ministries, thus putting the cultural cooperation between the two countries back on the sound track. In May 1997, the Chinese Film Week was held in Czech. In August 2002, China sponsored the Exhibition of Top-Notch Traditional Arts and Crafts of Suzhou, China in Prague.

Following the disintegration of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, the bilateral cooperation in science and technology was suspended for a while. In May 1995, the Czech deputy prime minister and chairman of the State Commission of Science, Technology, Investment and Development visited China. In June, the Chinese science and technology delegation visited Czech and the two countries signed a new inter-government agreement on cooperation in science and technology. In September 1996, the Chinese vice minister of the State Science and Technology Commission Hui Yongzheng paid a visit to Czech. In December 1997, the Sino-Czech Scientific and Technological Cooperation Committee held its 34th meeting and signed 24 protocols on cooperation in the technologies of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, environmental protection, pharmaceuticals and etc. In April 2000, the 35th meeting of the Sino-Czech Scientific and Technological Cooperation Committee was held. The Chinese vice minister of the State Science and Technology Commission Li Xueyong and the Czech vice minister of education, youth and sports Prusa signed a protocol on cooperation and decided on 41 projects for cooperation. In March 2002, the 36th meeting of the China-Czech Scientific and Technological Cooperation Commission was held in Prague. The two sides reached agreement on more than 50 projects of scientific and technological cooperation from 2002 to 2005. In August, Wang Dianzuo, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, visited the Czech Republic. In September, Wang Yuqing, Deputy Director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, visited the Czech Republic.

After the disintegration of the Czech and Slovakia Federal Republic, China and the Czech Republic exchanged students in accordance with the principle of reciprocity. In June 1995, Vice Minister Wang Mingda of the State Education Commission led an educational delegation on a visit of Czech. The visit was ended before the scheduled time and the proposed signing of the first agreement on educational cooperation between the two countries was also put off as a result of Lien Chan's visit to Czech. In May 1996, the Czech deputy minister of education, youth and sports Ondracek visited China for the signing of the agreement on educational exchanges between the two countries covering the period of 1996-1999. In May 2000, the Czech minister of education, youth and sports Zeman visited China, and the two sides signed the agreement on educational exchanges between the education ministries of the two countries covering the period of 2000-2003. In 2000, China and Czech each sent a teacher to lecture in the other country, and the number of the Chinese students in Czech was eight and the Czech students in China ten. In 2002, two Chinese teachers work in the Czech Republic where eight Chinese students study. One Czech teacher works in China where there are 10 Czech students.

IV. Important Bilateral Agreements

The Joint Communiqu¨¦ of the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Czech Republic.

(Source: www.fmprc.gov.cn)