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

From my experience, the most effective way to achieve things with China is through dialogue and through building relationships. We will of course be part of the debate and assessment on how the EU should respond to this issue. There is no proposal at the moment for sanctions. There are separate sanctions like arms embargoes and so on that Ireland certainly applies. We are in the middle of this discussion and debate at EU and UN levels. The statement made in the UN today was made by Germany on behalf of quite a number of countries, Ireland included, which signed up to it. We have a very good relationship with China on many levels. It is a huge country and an incredibly complex one. It is important we speak out when we have real concerns, as we have on this particular issue, but it is about the relationship and being able to speak very directly and truthfully about our concerns in order to build pressure to get change. That is how we should approach this. However, the EU collectively needs to make decisions to build further pressure in order to get a more satisfactory response on this issue.

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