Lower house committee calls on govt to leave 16+1 platform

The lower house foreign committee has called on the Czech government to leave the 16+1 platform for cooperation of China and the Central and Eastern European countries, because it did not bring any significant benefit and only promoted one-sided Chinese interests, the committee concluded today. The platform was established ten years ago. The committee is of the view that since then, China's behaviour has changed markedly. "After the current leadership with (President) Xi Jinping at its helm, China presents itself as a systemic rival of the EU and the US that aspires to be the world leader," deputies said.