CZECH REPUBLIC

Universities raise Tibetan flag for Dalai Lama’s visit

Several Czech universities hung out Tibetan flags last week in reaction to an official statement on good Czech-Chinese relations that the country's four supreme constitutional officials issued after some politicians met the Dalai Lama last Tuesday, reports CTK.

The hoisting of flags was initiated by Masaryk University Rector Mikulas Bek who said the statement issued was similar to the behaviour of the Czechoslovak wartime government towards Berlin and the Czechoslovak communist government towards Moscow. Such a communication style is not common in relations between a sovereign state and a foreign power, he said after hoisting the Tibetan flag.

"A great part of the university public has been taken aback by the tone of the statement. Like many independent commentators, many academics believe that it goes beyond the standard borders of diplomatic protocol," Bek said.
Full report on the Prague Daily Monitor site