John Whelan: Ireland has much to lose from China trade spats 

The trade surplus with China, normally a blessing, may now be a cause for concern as the EU, with the US, ramps up rhetoric on potential security threats from over-reliance on Chinese trade

Micheál Martin meets Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in Beijing last November. 

China's announcement last week of an anti-dumping investigation into liquor imports, such as brandy from the EU, was a relatively modest step after Brussels had opened a probe last year into its electric car subsidies.

However, the threat looms, should China follow what it did after its probe into Australian wine imports, when it eventually imposed tariffs of up to 218%, decimating what had been one of Australia's largest overseas wine markets.