CHINESE PREMIER LI Qiang is to visit Ireland next week where he will meet with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

Premier Li is a close confidant of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who nominated him to the position last year.

Varadkar will host a bilateral meeting and a working lunch on 17 January at Farmleigh House with the premier where they are expected to discuss global issues, bilateral issues and EU-China relations.

Varadkar said: “I look forward to extending a warm welcome to Premier Li on his first visit to Ireland.

“It comes in a year in which we will mark 45 years of diplomatic relations between our two countries.

“China is one of the world’s great powers politically and economically and I am glad that Premier Li has decided to include Ireland in his itinerary.”

The Taoiseach added: “China is an important economic partner, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and has a huge role to play in overcoming the shared challenges the world faces, including working for peace and security in the world and ensuring we stop climate change.

“Under our Asia-Pacific Strategy, the Government is also committed to growing our bilateral political, economic and people to people relationships throughout the region, including with China.

“I look forward to what I hope will be an in-depth and constructive discussion on issues where we are of like-mind, as well as those on which we have a different perspective.”

The visit to Ireland will take place days after a pivotal election in Taiwan, which is being watched from Beijing to Washington because the next president will determine the Taiwan’s future relations with China.

China views Taiwan as a renegade province and has never renounced the use of force to take it one day.

In an address given last year that is understood to not have been welcomed by the Chinese Embassy, Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin said Ireland will be clear that the maintenance of stability and the status quo in relation to Taiwan is critical.

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“Any attempt to change the status quo by force would not be acceptable,” he said, stating that “any serious escalation would have consequences for all countries”.

“Let there be no doubt – Ireland adheres to, and will continue to adhere to, the One China Policy. This means that we do not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

“We recognise the People’s Republic of China as the legal representative of China. That is not in question. But this does not preclude the development of economic, cultural and people-to-people connections with Taiwan; nor the meaningful participation of Taiwan in relevant multilateral fora,” said Martin.

With reporting by © AFP 2024