Lubomir Zaoralek, Chairman of the Czech Chamber of Deputies’ Foreign Affairs Committee. (Photo: AFP/VNA)
Prague (VNA) – The Vietnamese Embassy in the Czech Republic has expressed deep concern about the remark on Vietnam made by Lubomir Zaoralek, Chairman of the Czech Chamber of Deputies’ Foreign Affairs Committee, at the committee’s meeting on June 21.
Chargé d’affaires at the Vietnamese Embassy Tran Thanh Huong handed over a diplomatic note to this effect to the director of the Asia-Pacific Department under the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Martin Klepetko on July 2.
The diplomatic note highlighted the traditional friendship and sound cooperative ties across many fields between Vietnam and the Czech Republic. It stressed that the community of Czechs of Vietnamese origin has been recognised as a minority ethnic group in the Czech Republic, and has actively integrated into the host society and contributed to the host country’s socio-economic development.
Vietnam rejected the remark of Lubomir Zaoralek, which adversely affected the Vietnam-Czech Republic relations and the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic, the note said.
Upon receiving the diplomatic note, Martin Klepetko affirmed that Zaoralek’s remark did not represent the viewpoint of the Czech Foreign Ministry and Government.
He added that the June 21 meeting of the Czech Chamber of Deputies’ Foreign Affairs Committee was an open event, and there was no official document of Zaoralek’s statement, which was quoted by a number of media agencies.
Over the past days, the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic have expressed discontent at the negative remark about Vietnam of the Czech legislator, who is a former Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Many Czech politicians, scholars and businesspeople also voiced disagreement with Zaoralek’s remark, saying that it did not reflect the true situation of the Vietnamese community in the country.-VNA
