The Czech Republic plans to build a new nuclear power plant with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts in Dukovany. (Image source: Wikipedia)
The Czech Republic plans to build a new 1,200-megawatt nuclear power plant in Dukovany, a multibillion-dollar project. However, the leader of the Czech political party recently announced a ban on Chinese companies from participating in the tender for the construction of the plant on national security grounds, prompting protests from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), whose embassy in Prague expressed serious concern on 28 June.
The first four units of the Dukwani nuclear power plant in southeastern Czech Republic were built in the 1980s to generate electricity with the help of the former Soviet Union, and the Czech Republic decided years ago to build Unit 5. And, by early 2018, companies from Communist China, Russia, South Korea and France, the United States and France, as well as Japan, had expressed interest in bidding.
In response to warnings from Czech security services that the investment case could expose the country to “pressure from the country of the chosen power supplier (meaning the Chinese Communist Party),” Czech Deputy Prime Minister, Transport Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlíček said on 27 June that all political parties agreed that Chinese companies should not The Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Industry Karel Havlíček said on the 27th that all political parties agreed that Chinese companies should not participate in the tender for new nuclear power plants.
Havlíček said there is no consensus on the opposition of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) national security agencies to Russia’s participation in the project. He stressed that the Czech government plans to finance the project at zero or low interest rates, for which the approval of the EU countries is still needed.
The Chinese Embassy in the Czech Republic issued a statement on its website on March 28 expressing serious concern about the Czech government’s intention to exclude Chinese companies from the tender for the project, saying that China firmly opposes the abuse of the concept of national security and demands that the Czech side provide an open, fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies to invest and operate in the Czech Republic.
The Czech Republic has been pledged to invest heavily in the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, a major infrastructure development program for Eastern Europe that China sees as a way to open the door to Europe. Czech President Milos Zeman has also been keen to establish good relations with the Chinese Communist Party, and in 2015 appointed Huaxin Energy President Ye Jianming as a special economic advisor, but Chinese investment promises in the Czech Republic were not fulfilled after Ye was arrested in China in 2018 for corruption.
On the other hand, from 2000 to 2019, less than one-tenth of the direct Chinese Communist Party investment in the EU actually went to Eastern Europe, which has also made the self-proclaimed pro-China Ziemann unhappy with Beijing.
In addition, the Czech counterintelligence agency has asked that the authorities exclude the Communist Party of China and Russia from the construction of nuclear power plants for reasons of national security.
Dozens of opposition members of both chambers of the Czech Parliament also issued an open letter in late October last year saying that both the Chinese Communist Party and Russia actively use trade relations to suppress other countries, and that allowing China and Russia to participate in the construction of Czech nuclear power plants would facilitate the expansion of their influence in the country, calling for a ban on the participation of the Chinese Communist Party and Russia in the construction of Czech nuclear power plants.
The Czech Foreign Minister said in early December last year that risky bidders should be excluded from the first stage of bidding for nuclear power plant construction projects due to national security concerns.
In addition, the Czech network security regulator warned in 2018 against using equipment from the Communist Party of China’s huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp (ZTE) in important infrastructure construction.
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