Irish Examiner view: More to the Chinese whispers

The Chinese ambassador to Ireland He Xiangdong. Picture: Moya Nolan

It’s comforting to be reassured by China’s ambassador to Ireland that critics have it all wrong about the widespread distribution of its technology and influence, but rather less so when he suggests that our government is succumbing to US and European “fever” about China.

He Xiangdong, talking to the Irish Examiner , dismisses cybersecurity fears over the app TikTok and the impact of the telecoms giant Huawei. And he offers us a truly remarkable guarantee. Despite anxieties that China has spied on other countries this has, Mr Xiangdong says, “not ever happened”.

The comments come ahead of an anticipated visit next month by Tánaiste Micheál Martin in his capacity as foreign affairs minister, and with Beijing likely to have identified a potentially increased influence for Martin in EU policy-making. 

The Fianna Fáil leader has said the Government and private sector need to be “realistic” and “clear-eyed” about China’s strategic objectives and their implications for Ireland. In a speech earlier this year, he also said the private sector and academia need to assess their relationship with China and areas where they may need to “de-risk”. Government agencies have been told not to use TikTok on official devices, a decision made by many administrations around the world.

For Mr He, the threat is “nonsense” and “tremendously over-exaggerated”. Singling out Chinese corporations is a “tactic” to seek “unfair competitive advantage”.

It is important to listen to China and understand what it is telling us. And to treat its views with respect. In no other nation does the concept of losing face, and in ensuring that your opposite number does not lose theirs, assume such weight. And it is important for diplomats to understand the reasons why a small nation such as Ireland may have worries about the actions and motives of a global superpower. And to voice them without any suggestion of sinophobia.

China’s attitude to Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has, at best, been ambivalent and, at worst, self-serving. They are one of the few nations to have provided succour to the Kremlin in terms of trade support and visible presence.

Now that it has fully taken on the role of workshop of the world, China is a huge driver of global emissions while simultaneously attempting to become the world leader in renewable energy. Its part in the spread of covid has never been fully explained. 

The volatility of its relationship with neighbouring Taiwan is a source of anxiety as is the manner in which it has dealt with the human rights of Uighur Muslims in Xinjian. Its ‘belt and road’ initiative looks aggressively expansionist and its actions — dealing with pandemic lockdown, for example, or the management of dissent — appear authoritarian.

It may be that viewed from China, Ireland, like other Western democracies, can be seen as the dupes of Washington, Brussels, or Westminster and that talk of screening, or restricting, direct investment looks unreasonable. 

But diplomats will also understand why any decision from Beijing always seems to carry an overall political objective. And why that might arouse suspicions.

Felling of Sycamore Gap robs us all

The felled Sycamore Gap tree, on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, England. Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire

Some acts of vandalism are so grotesque as to stay with us forever. 

The destruction of the giant Buddhist statues in the Bamyan valley of Afghanistan in 2001 told us exactly what manner of people the Taliban were. The dismantling of the Syrian city of Palmyra took place for similarly sinister reasons and carried the same deeply depressing resonance.

We don’t yet know the motives of the person who decided that a proportionate way of dealing with whatever grievance they had was to chop down the 300-year-old Sycamore Gap tree near Hadrian’s Wall. But it was a wound felt by all those who love nature.

The world does not have a multiplicity of trees known by their name or location. The US has the Lone Cypress on California’s 17-mile drive and General Sherman, the giant sequoia which is the world’s largest tree measured by volume.

The General Sherman Tree, world's largest living tree, in Sequoia National Park, California, USA. The base is 40ft diameter. Picture: iStockphoto

 Then there’s the oldest olive tree at Vouves in Crete, claimed to be 4,000 years; the Sagole Baobab of South Africa; the Great Sugi of Kayano in Japan. Our own candidate for antiquity, according to the National Museum of Ireland, is the Silken Thomas Tree, a yew, in the grounds of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

It takes a particularly malevolent mind to rob us of these ancient companions. Who does not feel diminished by the loss at the Sycamore Gap?

Walking the walk at the Ryder Cup

Team Europe's Rory Mcilroy celebrates his shot on the 17th during day three of the 44th Ryder Cup. Picture: Zac Goodwin/PA

If Mark Twain really did say that golf is a good walk spoiled, then he found the perfect way to describe the performance of his fellow countrymen in the 44th Ryder Cup, which ended in a well-deserved European victory in Rome yesterday.

This win, the 12th by Europe, was all the sweeter coming after the division sowed by the creation of the Saudi-backed LIV league and the absence of leading players due to their roles in the new group.

For Rory McIlroy, it will be a moment to savour after he lost his rag at some blatant gamesmanship by Joe LaCava, the hat-twirling caddie of US star Patrick Cantlay, whose own headgear selection policies have left us all guessing as to their deeper symbolism.

No major event is complete at the moment without a rendition of the Cranberries’ all-purpose earworm. So it was that fans greeted American players on the final day with: “He’s in your head, in your head, Rory, Rory, Rory.”

This Ryder Cup was won by a young team with something to spare which bodes well for the future. The message for Team America might be: “If the cap fits...”