Lackeys to the great powers

After China canceled concert tours by Czech orchestras last year in response to Prague city hall's removal of a one-China clause from its sister-city agreement with Beijing, U.S. Amb. Stephen King jumped into action and arranged a concert at his residence. Prominent attendees included Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib, who initiated the removal of the aforementioned clause, and Sen. Jiří Drahoš, who had objected when Pres. Miloš Zeman informed his Chinese counterpart that it is not Hřib who sets Czech foreign policy. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is using Taiwan as a pawn in Donald Trump's reelection policy toward China but would never ask his own country's Senate president to visit that country. If Vice Pres. Mike Pence, who is also president of the Senate, went to Taiwan, it would be tantamount to a declaration of war. So Czech Senate Pres. Miloš Vystrčil is being furtively maneuvered into going, because he doesn't want the Czech Republic to be anyone's lackey.