Interview: Senior CPC official's Ireland visit to boost strategic partnership, says Chinese ambassador
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E-mail Xinhua, June 14, 2014
Senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official Liu Yunshan's visit to Ireland, slated for June 15-17, will provide fresh impetus to the mutually beneficial strategic partnership between the two countries, says Chinese Ambassador to Ireland Xu Jianguo.
Liu is a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. His visit will be the highest level visit to Ireland by a senior Chinese leader since then vice-president and now President Xi Jinping's 2012 Ireland tour, Ambassador Xu told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"The visit will be a major event in the China-Ireland relationship," he said.
During his three-day visit, Liu will meet Irish President Michael D. Higgins, Prime Minister Enda Kenny, and Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore.
"With an eye to the long-term development of Sino-Irish ties, Liu and Irish leaders will exchange views on mutually beneficial cooperation and major issues of common concern. They will also discuss how to increase mutual political trust, expand friendly exchanges and promote multi-channel and all-round pragmatic cooperation in trade, investment, culture, education and other areas," he said.
Xu said 2014 marked the 35th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ireland diplomatic relations.
"China and Ireland have maintained frequent exchanges of high-level visits and leaders of the two countries have built up good working relationships and personal friendship over the past 35 years," he said.
In trade and investment sectors, Xu said bilateral trade amounted to 6.7 billion U.S. dollars last year, up 13.2 percent year-on-year. China has been Ireland's biggest trading partner in Asia for seven consecutive years.
Huawei and other leading Chinese firms have gained footholds in Ireland. This January, China Investment Corporation and Ireland's National Pensions Reserve Fund set up a 100-million-dollar technology investment fund to support research and development by companies in both countries.
In educational and cultural sectors, according to Xu, China is one of the major source countries for international students in Ireland. Currently, there are more than 10,000 Chinese students in Ireland.
Chinese language courses in Ireland had mushroomed in the past few years and, in September this year, a short course in Chinese language and culture would become an option for Irish middle school students, he said.
Some Chinese cities and provinces are twinned with Irish cities and counties in order to enhance friendship at local government level. According to Xu, China's Beijing and Shanghai have signed twinning agreements with Ireland's Dublin and Cork, respectively.
He said the two countries had many similarities in history and culture and, as each other's major cooperative partner, they had the good intentions and sincerity to develop closer relations.
"The Chinese side is pleased and gratified with the considerable achievements made in bilateral relations over the past 35 years," Xu said.
"Looking into the future, bilateral relations will achieve more substantial fruits and bring benefit to the two countries and the two peoples, so long as China and Ireland implement the important consensus of leaders of the two countries have reached and adhere to the principle of sincerity and friendship, equality, mutual benefit and win-win results," he said.
In the interview, the Chinese ambassador put forward a three-point proposal for advancing the strategic partnership.
"First, the two countries should further deepen political mutual trust and enhance mutual understanding and identification so as to consolidate the cornerstone of the bilateral relations," he said.
The two sides should deepen exchanges in various sectors, increase mutual understanding, respect each other's core interests and major concerns so as to set up a good political basis for the development of bilateral relations, he added.
He called on China and Ireland to make joint efforts to forge a good example of how friendly coexistence could be maintained between two countries of different sizes and systems.
"Second, the two countries should expand common interests, tap cooperative potential and push pragmatic cooperation to a new height," Xu said.
In sectors like information and communications technology, bio-pharmacy and modern agriculture, Ireland has outstanding advantages in talent, resources and technologies, he said.
But the ambassador said China, as the world's second largest economy, was adjusting its industrial structure and transforming its growth model, and seeking sustainable and stable growth while focusing on improving quality and increasing efficiency, thus providing important opportunities for Sino-Irish pragmatic cooperation.
"Third, the two countries should further promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges so as to increase friendship between the two peoples and consolidate a good mass base for the long-standing and healthy development of Sino-Irish relations," Xu said.
He urged the two countries to deepen cooperation in such areas as science and technology, education, culture and tourism.
He also urged the two countries to seek possibilities of launching direct flights and further ease visa restrictions for tourists and businessmen from China to lift cultural and people-to-people exchanges to a new level. Endi
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