China, Ireland pledge to deepen ties

Premier Li Qiang hosts a welcoming ceremony on Tuesday for Micheal Martin, Taoiseach, or prime minister, of Ireland, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (WANG ZHUANGFEI/CHINA DAILY)

Premier Li Qiang said on Tuesday that China stands ready to work with Ireland to advance high-quality pragmatic cooperation, consolidate political mutual trust, accommodate each other's major interests and core concerns, and elevate bilateral relations to a new level.

He made the remarks when meeting in Beijing with Micheal Martin, Taoiseach, or prime minister, of Ireland, who is currently on a five-day official visit to China.

Noting the strong economic complementarity between the two countries, Li said that China and Ireland should strengthen the alignment of their development strategies and further tap cooperation potential in various sectors.

He said that China is willing to expand cooperation with Ireland in services trade, including aircraft leasing, insurance and healthcare, deepen collaboration in green energy, the digital economy and artificial intelligence, further facilitate personnel exchanges, and strengthen cultural and people-to-people exchanges to continuously consolidate the public foundation for bilateral relations.

At a time when the international economic and trade order is facing severe challenges, Li also emphasized the importance of strengthening multilateral communication and coordination with Ireland, upholding multilateralism and free trade, and guiding the international order toward a more just and reasonable direction.

As Ireland is set to assume the rotating presidency of the European Union in the second half of this year, Li expressed the hope that Ireland would play an active role in promoting China-EU cooperation.

Martin said that Ireland is willing to strengthen exchanges with China at all levels, and it welcomes more Chinese enterprises to invest in the country. Ireland highly values China's key role in international affairs and opposes unilateralism and protectionism, he said, adding that his country stands ready to play a constructive role in promoting dialogue and cooperation between the EU and China.

On Tuesday, Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, also met with Martin. The Irish Taoiseach held meetings with representatives of several companies on the same day.

It is clear that there are "significant investment opportunities between Ireland and China", which can contribute to Ireland's economic growth, Martin wrote in a social media post.

Experts said that China-Ireland relations have maintained a steady trajectory with a solid foundation, and that the Irish delegation's visit to China carries strategic significance, both in consolidating existing cooperation and in opening up new areas of engagement.

Jian Junbo, director of the Center for China-Europe Relations at Fudan University, said that unlike China's overall trade relationship with the EU, in which China generally runs a surplus, trade between China and Ireland shows a certain degree of deficit on the Chinese side.

"Strengthening China-Ireland economic and trade exchanges and expanding the scale of bilateral trade would not only help deepen cooperation between the two economies, but could, to some extent, also contribute to optimizing the overall trade structure between China and the EU," Jian added.

Cui Hongjian, director of the European studies department at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said the visit also reflects the growing need among some EU member states to strengthen cooperation and communication with China.

As a responsible major country, China offers an approach different from certain major powers in international affairs, he said, adding that strengthening dialogue and engagement with China is, therefore, conducive to safeguarding strategic security and contributing to greater stability in the international system.