The ball’s in your court now, Enda

China’s heir apparent Xi Jinping invited the Taoiseach to Beijing next month as Enda Kenny heralded a new relationship between Ireland and the economic superpower.

Mr Xi praised Ireland’s ability to deal with its financial problems after the two leaders signed trade and innovation deals.

He said he remembered an Irish saying he had heard on his last visit to the country: “Good goods come in small parcels,” and this was now how he viewed Ireland.

In remarks that will spark relief in Brussels, Mr Xi insisted China wanted a strong eurozone and was considering investing in the EU bailout mechanisms aimed at propping up the crisis-hit single currency.

Mr Xi said he admired how the Irish people had faced up to and tackled the debt problems of recent years.

Mr Kenny said that both nations could learn from each other. “We both understand the need to reform and innovate as we move forward and just as China has transformed itself in its recent history, so too has Ireland,” the Taoiseach said.

Ireland is keen to tap into the booming Chinese export market, especially in the realms of food, agriculture, and hi-tech research.

The deals signed between the two governments are aimed at opening up the Chinese market for Irish firms and making it easier for them to operate there.

Mr Kenny is expected to travel to China at the end of March, following his St Patrick’s Day trip to Washington.

Mr Xi began yesterday at Lynch’s dairy farm in Sixmilebridge, Co Clare, where a new-born calf was named after him, before heading to Croke Park in Dublin for a GAA display.

After trying his hand at the national games — having more success with the big ball than the small — it was off to Dublin Castle for a dinner in the Chinese vice-president’s honour, followed by a private performance of Riverdance.

Ireland is the only eurozone nation being visited by Mr Xi in a diplomatic trip that also takes in the US and Turkey.

Amnesty International has asked the Taoiseach to raise with Mr Xi the plight of prisoners of conscience such as Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, who is in prison for “subverting state power”.

Protest groups such as the Irish Anti-War Movement condemned the “indulgent” nature of the Government’s welcome of Mr Xi in light of human rights abuses in China.