Slovak Prime Minister Fico visits China to attempt a pro-Beijing diplomatic shift

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico begins a six-day visit to China on Thursday that includes a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and stops in the central cities of Hefei and Shanghai to attend the opening ceremony of the Expo international imports from China this year.

Analysts say China hopes to use the visit to strengthen ties with the Slovak prime minister, an ally of Viktor Orban and who, like the Hungarian leader, has criticized Russian sanctions and EU support for Ukraine.

Since coming to power, Fico has been interested in a more pro-China foreign policy. His trip to China, planned for June, was aborted due to an assassination attempt in May and has not been able to take place until now.

Fico is the longest-serving prime minister since the founding of the Republic of Slovakia in 1993.

Since taking office in 2006, Fico has resigned twice between 2010 and 2012 and between 2018 and 2023. In 2018, he resigned and gave way to his political ally, Peter Pellegrini, due to a political crisis triggered by the murder of the investigative journalist. John Kuciak.

After Pellegrini's defeat in the 2020 parliamentary elections, the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities Party formed a new coalition government. During this period, Slovakia pushed for a more pro-Taiwan and values-oriented diplomatic line, which sparked resentment from Beijing.

In the 2023 legislative elections, Fico won again and returned to power.

The Fico government advocates an “all-round” foreign policy, in particular by strengthening cooperation with Russia and China. In addition to his trip to China this year, Fico plans to travel to Russia next year to attend the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Matej Imalk, executive director of the Central European Institute of Asian Studies, told VOA that the so-called “all-out” foreign policy is a euphemism that means engaging in economic relations with any country, without taking into account political and human values. rights or security considerations.

Imalk said Ficos' government has also significantly toned down the scope of its interactions with Taiwan, as some of its close political allies are staunch supporters of the PRC. [Chinas] interpretation of the “one China principle”, according to which Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.

Filip Ebok, director of the Prague office of the Central European Institute for Asian Studies, said: “Fico has repeatedly stated that he does not want Brussels to dictate to Slovakia on these issues, and for him, it is a way to strengthen his leadership qualifications. a sovereign Slovak foreign policy, despite criticism.

In fact, on a national level, it is good for Fico to pretend that he is doing something that is the opposite of what is dominant in the West, because he can maintain the support of his electorate. It is also a way of differentiating itself from the previous government, which was hawkish towards Russia and, to a certain extent, China as well.

Analysts believe Fico's visit to China also serves an economic purpose.

Pavel Havlek, a researcher at the Association for International Affairs, said Fico was seeking partnerships and investments from countries outside Europe.

Among them, Russia and China occupy a special place, as has been mentioned several times, for example when discussing the Slovak government's plan to restore economic relations with Russia after the war.

In the case of the PRC, the Slovak government is also considering investments and strengthened relations to compensate for the lack of economic growth.

ebok said the Slovak government was committed to focusing more on supporting economic engagement, for example by boosting Slovak exporters or attracting investments to Slovakia.

The government has, for example, increased the number of economic diplomats around the world and also opened new embassies in Asia or Africa, explaining this mainly as a way to strengthen economic diplomacy, ebok said.

In this perspective, China is presented as a major economic partner and Fico will lead a relatively large commercial delegation to China. Fico specifically wants to involve China in a PPP [public private partnership] transport infrastructure reconstruction/construction projects across the country.

Fico plans to work with China to promote large-scale infrastructure projects in Slovakia, including the reconstruction of roads and bridges, the expansion of the railway between the capital Bratislava and the city of Komrno, the completion of the road bypass of Bratislava and the construction of a hydroelectric power station.

In the recent vote on European tariffs on electric vehicles from China, the Fico government voted against.

Slovakia, through the Volkswagen plant, exported a large number of cars to China, ebok said. It is particularly exposed to Chinese retaliation against EU tariffs on Chinese imports of electric vehicles, with China having directly hinted that it could target large-engine vehicles from the EU, which are exported from Germany and Slovakia.

What is paradoxical is that tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles may actually be indirectly beneficial for Slovakia, as they may encourage more Chinese electric vehicle producers to set up their production in Europe in order to “avoid customs duties,” he added.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.