Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I condemn China. No one condemns China quite as much as I do in this House. I am a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which I co-chair with Senator Malcolm Byrne. We have been to several meetings with our parliamentary colleagues around the world. We are doing our best to bring a message to China that it cannot and must not continue.

The Uyghur case is perhaps one of the worst examples but the spectrum of misbehaviour by China on the world stage runs from that to the suppression of freedom of speech in Hong Kong, the threats against Taiwan and the restrictions on the Chinese population throughout that country. There is a whole range of ways in which China - which purports to be a member of the international community - absolutely disrespects and thumbs its nose at the rule of law.

Senator Mullen should make no mistake; no more than anyone else in this House, I absolutely condemn China. I have spoken in the House before in debates about China and I always make the distinction between the Chinese Communist Party and the government in Beijing, and the ordinary Chinese people who are our friends and colleagues in the global society and with whom we work, trade, meet and make cultural exchanges. Those people have done nothing wrong. It is their government that is perpetrating the abuse, the genocide and the horrible acts described in this report. The people I criticise are not the Chinese people but the Chinese Government, from Xi Jinping down to all of his cronies in Beijing.

What is most important about this debate is that we send out a clear message that we recognise what is in this report, we accept its veracity and we condemn what is happening. However, I also wish to support the Government amendment because it preserves our position as members of the international community. Let us remember-----