T-shirts saying 'I am Taiwanese' surface after Czech Senate President's speech in Legislative Yuan

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/09/03
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Just days after Czech Senate President Czech Senate speaker Milos Vystrcil harkened to John F. Kennedy's famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech and proclaimed "I am a Taiwanese" in Mandarin, T-shirts have surfaced on a Czech website with the words "I am Taiwanese" in Mandarin and Czech.

On Sunday (Aug. 30), Vystrcil, along with his 89-member delegation, began a five-day tour of Taiwan, making him the highest-level Czech official to ever visit the country. On Tuesday (Sept. 1), Vystrcil made history being the first foreign parliamentary leader in 45 years to deliver a speech in the Legislative Yuan and the first from a non-diplomatic ally.

At the end of his speech, Vystrcil quoted the famous speech delivered by Kennedy in West Berlin at the height of the Cold War. He said Kennedy clearly opposed the use of communism to oppress people and that the former president expressed support for the value of freedom with the words "Ich bin ein Berliner" (I am a Berliner).

The Czech leader then said, "Please allow me to express my support to Taiwan in the same way. I want to end my speech with this sentence: I am Taiwanese!" As soon as made this declaration in Mandarin (我是台灣人), legislators began clapping.    [FULL  STORY]