Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to address this issue. The Fianna Fáil Seanad group strongly supports the motion tabled by Senator Mullen. I certainly agree with the sentiment of the Minister of State that our foreign policy is pro-human rights and not anti-China and we want to develop strong and positive relations with China but the approach of the Chinese Communist Party, particularly to human rights and how it has treated the Uyghur people and minorities is nothing new. This is not something that has arrived and suddenly we have discovered that China is abusing human rights. If we look at China's record on other minority groups and take Tibet as an example, these re-education camps have existed in Tibet for a long time. The Tibetan language is banned and Tibetan culture is not allowed to be taught in Tibet. Approximately 500,000 Tibetans, mostly from rural areas, have been moved so the land can be cleared for lithium mining purposes. The Chinese Government is doing this. We have seen this for a long period. We have seen what is happening in Hong Kong where, as we know ever since Britain left, slowly but surely Chinese power has been asserted. We have seen freedom of the press and democracy constantly undermined and we have seen the arrest of activists such as Joshua Wong. This is a continuous record, and the approach to the Uyghur people and Kazakhs based in Xinjiang follows a long-standing Chinese Government policy that does not have an understanding of human rights.

I was particularly alarmed when Senator McDowell and I were on RTÉ radio and, as Senator McDowell will recall, the Chinese ambassador came on before us. His words were chilling. He was not even trying to make any excuses. He basically just denied that any of these activities were happening.

One of the things that motivated my interest in politics was seeing as a teenager in the late 1980s and into the 1990s the wonderful opening up in central and eastern Europe. However, we also saw what happened in Tiananmen Square. The Chinese Government still does not believe that forms part of its history. There is a continual record on the part of the Chinese Government of not recognising abuses of human rights and denying they ever happened.

I accept the approach of the Minister of State that it is better to engage and talk to China to try to convince it of the importance of respect for minorities but there comes a time, and I agree with the Minister of State's point that it has to come at multilateral level, including the European and global levels, when we need to say to China that its continued behaviour is not acceptable. In this regard, one of the reasons I am such a passionate European, as I know the Minister of State is also, is in a world that will be increasingly dominated by a G2 comprising the US and China, the only other powerful seat at the table will be the European Union. We have to use our soft power and our economic power to ensure human rights are respected.

A cause of serious concern is the fact that China sits on the UN Human Rights Council. I certainly hope that when it comes to the election of the members of the council in future Ireland will be insistent that the only countries that should sit on that body, and the only countries that should be involved in overseeing human rights at a global level, are those that are committed to protecting and defending human rights. I ask the Minister of State to take a strong line in this regard.