How quickly the Chinese soldiers were forgotten

Before he left for Beijing, Miloš Zeman defended his decision to attend a military parade there by saying that 16m Chinese died in WWII. Bohuslav Sobotka used this same line, and we attributed it to a talking point drafted for them by dealmaker Jaroslav Tvrdík. Now that CEFC of China has announced a slew of investments into Czech companies, it's clear why Zeman refused to call off the trip, regardless of how many of his EU counterparts were shunning it. The deals were already done, and Zeman needed to travel to China to give them the presidential seal of approval. Pavel Páral is probably right when he says today in E15 that the investments into Czech media, soccer and beer are just a marketing blitz. They create a sense of inevitability. When Chinese money swoops in to buy Czech energy assets that were originally sucked out of ČEZ, the strategic implications will be forgotten as quickly as the Chinese soldiers were.