Ex-Czech parliamentary speaker urges vigilance against authoritarian pressure

Taipei, Jan. 20 (CNA) The former president of the Czech Republic's Chamber of Deputies has cautioned democracies against "sustained pressure" exerted by authoritarian regimes, warning that it could provide ground for escalation if not handled systematically.

Speaking in Taipei at the invitation of the Taiwan office of the European Values Center for Security Policy on Tuesday, Markéta Pekarová Adamová said democracies are increasingly being forced to engage in conversations on how to defend freedom amid constant, multidimensional pressure.

She warned that authoritarian actors have refined strategies that avoid direct confrontation while gradually reshaping the strategic environment through economic coercion, cyber operations, disinformation campaigns and military signaling.

Such tactics, she said, pose particular challenges for democracies whose systems are designed to respond to "discrete events" rather than permanent stress.

"Long before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, pressure had taken the forms of energy leverage, cyberattacks, disinformation and selective violations of sovereignty," she said.

"Each individual step was calibrated to appear manageable. Together they prepared the ground for escalation," she said, calling on democracies to recognize such pressure early and treat it cumulatively rather than episodically.

Resilience, Pekarová Adamová said, should be treated as a form of statecraft rather than a slogan, requiring political courage and long-term planning.

She pointed to Ukraine's ability to maintain governance, financial operations and digital services during wartime as the result of years of institutional adaptation, not improvisation after being invaded by Russia in 2022.

She also said supply chains have become strategic infrastructure, arguing that dependence on unreliable or coercive suppliers creates vulnerabilities that can be activated during political tensions.

In this context, Pekarová Adamová highlighted Taiwan's central role in the global technology ecosystem and said resilience depends not only on capacity but on trust among like-minded partners.

Noting that many European manufacturers are moving to avoid Chinese components, Pekarová Adamová said Czech companies are eager to expand cooperation with Taiwanese firms, research institutions and academia, especially in the unmanned aerial vehicle and drone industry.

Turning to alliances and deterrence, Pekarová Adamová said Taiwan is "not merely a regional issue," but a test case for whether democracies can uphold stability without surrendering principles or provoking unnecessary escalation.

She called for broader and more coordinated European engagement with Taiwan, stronger bipartisan consensus to ensure policy continuity, and deeper coordination among European, transatlantic and Indo-Pacific democracies.

Pekarová Adamová is scheduled to meet with President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) later Tuesday. She is also set to meet with Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), Mainland Affairs Council officials and former President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) before her scheduled departure on Saturday.

Pekarová Adamová served as president of the Czech Republic's Chamber of Deputies from November 2021 to October 2025. In 2023, she led a 160-member delegation to Taiwan, helping facilitate the signing of roughly a dozen cooperation agreements between the Czech Republic and Taiwan.