by WorldTribune Staff, June 29, 2025 Real World News
Chinese agents operating out of Beijing’s embassy in Prague concocted a plot to stage a car collision targeting Taiwanese Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim during her visit to the Czech capital last year, according to a report.
In what was called a “demonstrative kinetic action” targeting Hsiao during her March 2024 visit to Prague, her first trip abroad since she and President Lai Ching-te’s election victory, Czech military intelligence director Petr Bartovský told Czech Radio that the plan involved staging a collision with the car carrying Hsiao.
Taiwanese Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim / Video ImageBartovský confirmed the attempt “did not go beyond the planning stage” but added that a Chinese diplomat ran a red light in central Prague while trying to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese delegation.
Wendell Minnick, author of the Substack podcast/newsletter China In Arms, wrote in a post to LinkedIn:
“Hsiao is a primary target of China. She is actually from New Jersey and when I met her 30 years ago she still had that Jersey accent. She has deep connections inside DC that are not possible amongst your average Taiwanese.”
Minnick, a former contributing editor for Geostrategy-Direct.com, added: “She has force multipliers that when the time comes will save Taiwan, that is, if the Chinese don’t kill her first.”
Czech military intelligence spokesperson Jan Pejšek said China’s actions were bordering on endangering Hsiao and that Chinese officials had been “gathering information about her schedule, and attempting to document her meetings with prominent figures from the Czech political and public spheres.”
“These activities, which flagrantly violate the obligations arising from the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, were carried out, among other things, by persons legalized in diplomatic positions at the Chinese Embassy in Prague,” Pejšek said.
Kuang-ting Chen, a lawmaker in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, wrote on X: “Hiding behind diplomatic immunity to interfere with another nation’s sovereignty and endanger personal safety is a flagrant violation of international law. This incident once again exposes Beijing’s export of authoritarianism and pattern of transnational repression.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said the Czech Republic had violated the “One China Principle” by allowing “Taiwan independence hardliners” such as Hsiao to visit.
“I want to emphasize that Chinese diplomatic personnel have always adhered to the laws and regulations of the host country. China urges the relevant parties not to be provoked or manipulated by Taiwan independence separatist forces, and not to create unnecessary trouble or malicious hype that undermines bilateral relations,” Guo said.
Czech intel: China plotted car collision against Taiwan VP, ‘a primary target’ added by Editor Two on June 29, 2025
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