Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 289: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if, during the recent visit by members of the Government to China, the case of a person (details supplied) was discussed with the Chinese Government. [4498/05]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The Government has previously raised the case of Ms Yang Fang with the Chinese authorities through the EU-China human rights dialogue, which is the agreed framework for raising individual human rights cases. The situation of Ms Yang Fang was again raised with the Chinese authorities on 18 January 2005, during the course of the Taoiseach's recent visit to Beijing.

The Chinese side reported that Ms Yang Fang was not in detention and that she had left her employment several months ago to care for her ageing mother. The Chinese also expressed regret that in two previous cases where they had responded to Irish Government representations to allow Chinese students to return to Ireland to continue their studies, the students concerned had become outspoken critics of the Chinese Government in Ireland.