Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is the key question. We can do things that allow us to position ourselves with other countries that have similar concerns. Ultimately, however, the question is how the relationship with China and the international community results in a sustained level of concern and pressure to ensure that the legitimate concerns of the international community are understood in Beijing and result in an appropriate change. That is how we should approach this in the context of UN engagement, EU engagement and our bilateral discussions with the Chinese Government. From my perspective, that is what we have been doing - at UN level, a human rights level and an EU level. Obviously, we have had conversations with the British Government as well about its concerns. First and foremost, however, our conversation has to be direct and honest with the Chinese Government through its embassy in Dublin, which is what has been taking place.

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