Prague mayor’s anti-Beijing stance in the face of coronavirus makes headlines in Fox News, Bloomberg

While most of the world has been courting medical supplies from the People’s Republic of China to fight coronavirus, Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates) has distanced himself from the recent charm offensive. This has caught the attention of US conservative broadcaster Fox News, financial news agency Bloomberg, and UK tabloid The Daily Mail, among others.

Fox News pointed out that the mayor was not interested in helping “Chinese officials desperate to rebrand Beijing as a global superpower” through its efforts to distribute supplies such as masks and respirators.

Hřib previously backed out of a sister city agreement with Beijing, signed by the previous city administration, due to its one-China clause. He has since signed an agreement with Taipei, and he also refused to bow to Chinese pressure to exclude a representative of Taiwan from an official reception.

Bloomberg in its story “The European Mayor Who Doesn’t Want China’s Help With Virus” said: “The 38-year-old Pirate Party member is a symbol of the skepticism Beijing will have to overcome as it rushes to aid a Europe ravaged by a pandemic that began on Chinese soil.”

In an opinion piece in The Daily Mail, writer Edward Lucas argues that China, in addition to turning the tide against coronavirus “may have won the war for global supremacy as well.”

The author makes a very critical account of China and its policies, as well as other nation’s support for them via their desire for cheap goods. He then calls for action. “The splendid mayor of Prague, Zdeněk Hřib, showed the way last year. Chinese representatives threatened sanctions because of his support for human rights. No problem, said Hřib. We will boost ties with Taiwan instead,” Lucas writes in The Daily Mail.