Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. On Sunday, 30 May, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, visited China for a bilateral meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr. Wang Yi. It did not surprise me that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, did not exactly bang the tables or lay down the law with the Chinese about human rights, the Uyghurs and so forth. Given the nature of the Government’s attitude and behaviour to China for the last decade, this was never likely.

However, a couple of things did surprise me. For example, for some reason the Department of Foreign Affairs waited for two days after the meeting before issuing a press release about the fact that it had taken place. Needless to say, the propaganda arm of the Chinese Communist Party, CCP, did not wait for two days to comment. It immediately stepped into the breach to spin its line on the nature of the meeting with the Minister, Deputy Coveney. The Minister was quoted by the CCP, and this is a direct quote in the Chinese media, as follows: "He praised China’s firm stance on multilateralism and spoke highly of China’s role as rotating president in the UN Security Council. Ireland is an honest friend of China in the EU and is ready to be a reliable partner, Coveney assured them". That is a direct quote attributed to our Minister for Foreign Affairs. Indeed, it is of a piece with what I quoted here last week from the book, Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party is Reshaping the World. In May 2019, Deputy Coveney said that the deepening relationship between the two countries would help Ireland to reach out to the European Union to advance China's interests in the EU. That was at the launch of a pro-Chinese Government think-tank, Asia Matters. The former Fine Gael Party leader, Mr. Alan Dukes, was closely involved in that, if I am not mistaken.

The Chinese state media continued: "Wang stressed the importance of mutual respect for the differences in the two countries' histories, cultures, stages of development and social systems." The phrase with regard to respect for the differences in history, culture and social systems is the Chinese Communist Party’s standard euphemism and doublespeak used to spin and excuse its violent suppression of democracy and basic human rights. It genuinely believes that the fact it has a different culture and history from the West somehow gives it a free pass. This phraseology is now used in a summary of a meeting involving an Irish Minister. The Department of Foreign Affairs eventually released its account of the meeting, in the usual emollient tone to which we have become accustomed. In fairness, the Minister raised the case of Richard O’Halloran, the Irish man being detained in China, as well as the treatment of the Uyghur minority. The statement said: "Minister Coveney outlined Ireland’s position on the treatment of Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang". That is not exactly strong stuff. Tellingly, the statement mentioned Ireland’s beef exports to China before it mentioned the Uyghurs, showing the priorities.

I ask the Minister of State to address the following questions. What was the background to this meeting? When was it arranged? At whose instigation did it take place? What other countries were invited, and why that choice? Were they the countries that China perceives as most friendly to its interests, including Serbia and Hungary if I am not mistaken? Why did it take two days for the Department of Foreign Affairs to issue a press release about the discussions that took place, allowing the Chinese propaganda arm effectively to put words in the mouth of an Irish Minister? Was this timeline of statements agreed or choreographed in advance? Finally, was Taiwan discussed at the meeting? It certainly was not mentioned in the Department’s press release and, needless to say, it was not mentioned in the Chinese Communist Party’s puff-piece. I wonder if the Chinese insisted that it could not be discussed.