Czech foreign minister to lose job after challenging party leader 

Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek will be dismissed from his position after he lost a bid to lead his centre-left Social Democratic party (CSSD) party last week.

Party chief Jan Hamacek will submit a proposal to the prime minister later on Monday to dismiss Petricek, Hamacek said.

Petricek, the cabinet member, who most frequently warns against closer ties with Russia and China, has often clashed with pro-Russian and pro-Chinese President Milos Zeman, who had called for his dismissal.

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He has questioned a plan to let Russian bidder participate in a tender to build a new nuclear power plant, a view shared with the country's intelligence community and parliamentary opposition. The 6 billion-euro project is the Czech Republic's biggest single public investment.

That opposition and his losing the challenge to Hamacek were among the reasons for his dismissal, Petricek suggested at a televised news conference.

The CSSD is the junior coalition party in the minority government of Prime Minister Andrej Babis. A general election is due in October in the Czech Republic, a NATO and European Union member country.

The current Minister of Culture, Lubomir Zaoralek, will be nominated to replace Petricek, Hamacek said. Zaoralek had held the job in the previous government.

During his tenure, Zaoralek took part in initiatives seen as too open towards China. In 2016, he prepared a declaration of top Czech officials assuring Beijing of good relations after a minister met in Prague with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to China's disapproval.

(With inputs from agencies)