Chinese investment - Alliance will bring real benefits

With the wealth of nations, and indeed their debts, estimated nowadays in billions as opposed to mere millions, there is a danger that a tangible aspect of Ireland’s trade mission to China in securing contracts worth €35m could be dismissed as ‘small beer’.

Such negative sentiments would, however, be wide of the mark judging by the note of confidence in Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton’s prediction that it is a portent of things to come and will be followed by Chinese investment here in the near future.

That’s a mouthwatering prospect at a time when the domestic economy is mired in difficulty. A cynic might attribute the minister’s up-beat assessment to politicking but by any yardstick, the trade mission organised by the IDA and Enterprise Ireland with 90 Irish firms has proved a highly successful venture.

Less tangible, perhaps, but potentially of far greater significance, the foundations of a closer alliance between the two nations were laid yesterday when Ireland and China formed a strategic partnership for co-operation on a range of issues including trade and investment, tourism, education, science, agriculture, and food. Earlier, Enda Kenny extended the visa waiver scheme which promises a major tourism boost for this country.

At present, about 10,000 Chinese people visit Ireland each year, a figure expected to increase considerably given the strength of China’s economy and the newfound wealth of a burgeoning slice of its enormous population of more than 1,347,350,000, amounting to almost one in every five people on the planet.

Further cementing the warm relationship formed by Mr Kenny and Chinese vice-president Xi Jinping, who visited Ireland last month, a detailed statement was issued after the Taoiseach’s meeting with Wu Bangguo, chairman of the National People’s Congress. No doubt, this courtship is confounding old China watchers.

From Ireland’s viewpoint, the suggestion that the world’s fastest growing economy might invest in this country is something to be savoured. Besides the possibility of purchasing Irish government bonds, China’s interest could also embrace joint enterprise ventures, including industrial projects. In the latter context, however, it is crucial that Ireland guard against investments which open the pathway to asset stripping.

Arguably, the six-day trade mission, which ended on such a high note, may be the beginning of a potential bonanza as business relations develop between Ireland and China. A platform has already been established by Irish food exports to the biggest market in the world. Ireland’s significance for China lies in its strategic access to a European market of 500m consumers.

However, as the cliché goes, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Ireland has reiterated its “firm and unwavering commitment” to the one China policy, and its opposition to anything calculated to undermine China’s territorial integrity. At the stroke of a pen, any notion of Irish support for the independence of either Tibet or Taiwan has evaporated.

Pro-Tibetan campaigners will inevitably claim that Ireland has sold out on a basic principle of human rights. But given the depth of Ireland’s economic woes, others will call it realpolitik.