Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I accept the Minister's point that the member states of the UN Security Council have to agree, but we have to start applying pressure. Where are the alliances Ireland is making with other countries to apply pressure to discuss this? China now has a territorial claim on approximately 90% of the South China Sea. This is contested by other countries in the region. There is an international ruling which states that at least 50% of it is international waters. China is building islands on rocks and reefs which are, in fact, military bases. A serious escalation is developing and the world has to look and see how it can address it, build alliances to try to cut across what is happening and intervene and try to bring a resolution to what is developing over the next period of time. We should discuss it in the Dáil as well.

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