The meeting in question occurred on 27 July, as Pavel was returning back to Czechia from a state visit to Japan. However, you will not find a single mention of the meeting on the website of the Prague Castle, as the President’s detour was not part of his official itinerary. It was a private endeavor to personally offer his congratulations on the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday.
Even though the trip was a private one, it still bears political ramifications, as evidenced by the swift reaction of the PRC Embassy. China considers Tibet, and any affairs concerning it, among its own “core interests”. Any interactions with the Dalai Lama, or the Central Tibetan Administration (a government-in-exile), leads to knee-jerk reaction, accusing the “perpetrators” of infringement in “China’s internal affairs”.
More than anything, such reactions are evidence of China’s own geopolitical anxiety, linked to its failure in winning over the loyalties of the Tibetan population since the armed annexation of Tibet in the early 1950s.
Czechs largely supportive of Pavel-Dalai Lama meet
While the Chinese Embassy fumes, the Czech population has shown a distinctly opposing view of such meetings between political figures and the Dalai Lama.
A recent public opinion survey, conducted by the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) in Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia in late February and early March, shows that Czechs are the most Tibet-supportive, while also being the most China-critical, of the four Central European nations.
Per the survey, almost 60% of Czech respondents have very negative or negative views of China, while little over 20% have a positive or very positive sentiment towards the country.
This view is fairly consistent across the party lines. Among the voters of current governing coalition parties, China polls negatively between 73%-83%. Views of China are dominantly negative even among the anti-system Motorists (58%) and the populist ANO party (52%) of former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (2017-2021), a leading opposition party and projected winner of the upcoming parliamentary elections later this year.
Only among the voters of the far-right SPD and far left Enough!, a coalition led by the Czech Communist Party, do we observe a less critical outlook on China – with only 37% and 23% respectively having a negative perception.
A broadly negative view of China naturally impacts how the Czech population perceives Chinese control over Tibet, as well as interactions of political figures with the Dalai Lama. This is despite China’s attempts to control narratives about Tibet in Czechia, and erase its identity globally.
As many as 55% of respondents have a negative view of China’s policy towards Tibet, the largest share in Central Europe – with the number among the remaining three countries oscillating between 40-45%. Only a negligible share of respondents views China’s approach to Tibet in a positive way.
When asked whether Czech politicians should be meeting with the Dalai Lama even if China criticises such interactions, Czechs show overwhelming support. As many as 57% of respondents approve of such meetings, while less than 10% disagree.
Returning to the roots of Czech democracy
Unlike the Chinese Embassy, the Tibetan government-in-exile called the visit by the Czech President a “historic moment”, and rightly so.
Mr Pavel’s trip was the first meeting between the Dalai Lama and a sitting head of state from Central Europe since 2016, when he visited Slovakia and held a private lunch with then-President Andrej Kiska.
By meeting with the Dalai Lama, Pavel has also aligned himself with the Havel legacy of Czech politics. Václav Havel, the post-Velvet Revolution president of newly democratised Czechoslovakia (1989-1992) and later first president of the independent Czech Republic (1993-2003), enjoyed a deep personal connection with the Dalai Lama.
According to data published by the Dalai Lama’s official website, the two men met on at least five occasions while Havel was in office, and a further six times since he left the presidential post. Their friendship lasted until Havel’s death in December 2011, only eight days after their last meeting in Prague.
