Positive bilateral diplomatic relationship benefits both states

Irish companies currently employ more than 5,000 people in China, with this number growing steadily in recent years, Enterprise Ireland reports

Leo Clancy, CEO of Enterprise Ireland, with event delegates attending the Shanghai Business Alumni Reception in April. Irish companies currently employ more than 5,000 people in China, with this number growing steadily in recent years.

Patrick O’Riordan, overseas manager for China with Enterprise Ireland, looks at the strong China-Ireland trading relationship

Patrick O’Riordan, overseas manager for China with Enterprise Ireland.

Ireland is a trading nation with our substantial exports to China underpinned by a positive bilateral diplomatic relationship. 

Ireland is one of the few EU countries to have an overall trade surplus with China thanks to a combined strong product and services offering to China. Irish companies currently employ more than 5,000 people in China, with this number growing steadily in recent years.

Enterprise Ireland’s footprint in China consists of three offices spread across the key metros of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, with additional representation in Shenzhen. Our small team of advisors support Irish companies to enter the market and scale their exports to China. 

We work closely with the wider Team Ireland, the embassy, consulates and government agency colleagues to promote Irish interests in China.

Whilst China can be a challenging market for companies to enter due to its demanding nature and the high levels of innovation required to compete with ever increasing internal capability, it also provides unique scaling opportunities for Irish companies with the ambition, market fit and resources to navigate the vast market. 

We are increasingly finding that opportunities in China are typically not defined by sectors, but instead on a more granular level based on the capabilities of individual companies to deliver value to specific customer needs.

For example, since establishing its first office in Beijing in 1997, ICON plc has grown its business to become one of the leading clinical research organisations in the country supporting large indigenous and multinational biotech and life science companies with their product development.

Elsewhere, in the Construction and Engineering industry, PM Group has tracked multinational companies to China, assisting them to deliver complex capex intensive projects in the Pharma, Food & Beverage, Medtech, and Advanced Manufacturing sectors.

China has set food security as an economic and political priority, to improve efficiencies and ensure the sustainability of its food production chain, as outlined in its 14th Five-Year Plan. Despite current challenges facing the food industry in China, the medium term will continue to provide opportunities for innovative Irish Agritech companies who have the expertise and technologies to aid food producers improve their yields sustainably.

Long recognised as a significant manufacturer of automobiles and more recently a global leader in electric vehicles, the focus of China’s automotive sector has rapidly become more internationalised, leading to China becoming the world’s largest automotive exporter in 2023. 

With the secular trend to EV’s, Irish company Cubic Telecom is well-positioned to deliver connectivity solutions to assist the globalisation of Chinese automakers.

Third-level education linkages between Ireland and China continue to strengthen. Following a welcome post-pandemic recovery in international student mobility, Ireland continues to be a desirable study-abroad destination with a record number of 3,300 Chinese students travelling to Ireland in 2023.

 In China, Irish Higher Education Institutions continue to build strong relationships with local partner universities, developing a transnational education network that delivers international curricula to over 8,000 Chinese students. There is a strong and growing business alumni network forming which is becoming a catalyst for Irish business interests in China.

Notwithstanding current economic challenges, China will remain a massive economy and one that will continue to yield rewarding opportunities for Irish business and be an important player in global supply chains. With commerce fundamentally being a people-based endeavour, the recent announcement of a unilateral visa waiver for Irish passport holders travelling to China is a further boost to Irish business in China, making it more convenient to nurture and cement business relationships.

Enterprise Ireland will continue to work with world-class Irish companies to deliver export growth to this important market.