Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I again thank the Minister of State. I am grateful to all of the Seanadóirí who took part in the debate today. Having listened to the Minister of State, I am very concerned. I worry that the Government's approach to this debate today and to the issue generally is one of a nod to Geneva but a wink to Beijing at the same time. There is no sign of a copy of the speech from the Minister of State today and I wonder if that is part of a Government desire not to have its words of response reported and to keep this issue as invisible as possible. I am really concerned, notwithstanding the protestations of support and the fact that the Government did not table an amending motion today. How would it have looked if the Government had sought to amend this motion today? I am concerned that the Irish approach does frankly involve fumbling in the greasy till on this question.

I will stress three points from the Minister of State's speech that gave rise to concern. The first is that he talked about letting the human rights monitors in and encouraging that. He said it might help allay some of our concerns. What does that say except signal to the Chinese that there may be something in what they say; that perhaps this is not as bad as has been said. There is no question of our concerns being allayed at this stage given that we know what is happening. Unless the Government starts from an acceptance of exposed reality, it cannot claim to be taking these human rights abuses seriously.

The Minister of State stressed China's sovereignty. Nobody is putting China's sovereignty in issue. When it comes to challenging human rights abuses in any country in the world, it goes without saying that what is being challenged is not the sovereignty of the country but the failure of the country to comply with international norms of human rights and human dignity. The fact, as was eloquently brought out by Senator Higgins, that the Minister of State instanced Islamic terrorism and that it somehow must be factored into the thinking here is all playing from China's playbook. China takes advantage of that kind of weakness. It is hard not to believe that China has already made its views known to the Minister of State, even on this motion. There is form here.

I am most indebted to Senator McDowell for his excellent seconding speech, but in a way he blew the gaff on the whole Irish approach by instancing our attitude to the EU office in Taipei. This is not a debate today about Taiwan, Tibet, the oppression of Christians, Falun Gong or any other group, but what happened regarding Ireland's approach to Taiwan is deeply instructive about the fears that we have and the need to act now. In 2012, Ireland signed a strategic partnership agreement with China. The joint statement issued at the time is still on the Government websites, and it has some extraordinary and chilling sections. It states:

Ireland does not support Taiwan's bid to join any international organisation of sovereign states. Ireland supports the peaceful development of the relationship across the Taiwan Straits and expresses its support for China’s peaceful reunification. The Chinese side appreciates this position.

That outrageous statement was clearly written in Beijing. It sounds more like something one would hear in a hostage video or one made by somebody with a gun to his or her head. That highlights the urgency of this situation, that we would start to take human rights seriously and that we would become a player at EU level and that trade must be in issue. It is not an argument to say that we cannot control EU competence on trade. We are in a position to push to the extent of our leverage within the EU for a particular attitude by the EU on all our behalf, and of course we make our own trade deals.

The Minister of State referenced the 39 nations demanding that China respects human rights in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong in recent days. The sad part is that while one might have 39 nations demanding that China respects human rights, the envoy for Pakistan immediately read a statement by 55 countries, including China, denouncing it. What one sees here is China using its leverage with African countries that are economically dependent and with Islamic states. Sadly, even the Palestinian Authority signed up a couple of years ago to China's side of the argument. What does that show? It shows that Islamic countries, sometimes under authoritarian leadership, are succumbing to Chinese economic pressure and not even speaking up for their own co-religionists in China. That tells us something about the heavy hand of China.

Addressing Germany, the United States and Britain in recent days, the Chinese ambassador criticised their hypocritical attitude and said they should put away their arrogance and prejudice and pull back from the brink now. This is threatening language. China is threatening to block the renewal of peacekeeping missions for some countries or preventing others from building new embassy facilities in the country.

Last month, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute stated that it had identified more than 380 suspected detention facilities in Xinjiang. I have spoken about that already. In the US, the House of Representatives passed a Bill at the end of September that aims to ban imports from Xinjiang, contending that abuses of the Uyghur people are so widespread that all goods from the region should be considered made with slave labour. That is the kind of serious thinking we need.