Irish politicians from across the political spectrum met senior Chinese parliamentarians this week to discuss inter-parliamentary relations and improving bilateral relations, in a visit underlining the ever-increasing importance of Sino-Irish relations.
The delegation was led by the Ceann Comhairle, Dr Rory O'Hanlon TD and included Senator Rory Kiely, Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann, Deputies Liz O'Donnell, Kathleen Lynch, Tom Hayes, Tony Dempsey and Paudge Connolly and Senator Timmy Dooley.
The delegates were in China on the invitation of Wu Bangguo, chairman of China's National People's Congress and China's top lawmaker.
Mr O'Hanlon said the visit was focused primarily on promoting Irish-Chinese inter-parliamentary relations and he recalled that the Taoiseach met Mr Wu in January and agreed to exchange views on parliamentary relations.
"The present visit follows up on the January meeting, and also on the recent visit to Ireland of a delegation from the National People's Congress," the Ceann Comhairle said.
The Taoiseach headed up a large trade delegation to China in January. There are over 300 Irish companies operating in China and two-way trade between Ireland and China was worth about €4,000 million last year.
The group started their visit in the wealthy financial capital, Shanghai, last week.
The delegation also had a taste of the other side of China when they visited Yinchuan in the Ningxia Autonomous Region, an area in the far west of China that is largely desert and is the focus of Chinese government efforts to boost the western regions.
In Beijing, the delegation met representatives of the Irish community and visited Iona Technology's offices in the capital.
The delegation flew to Hong Kong yesterday for talks with Henry Tang, acting chief executive of Hong Kong and secretary for finance, as well as members of the Hong Kong Legislative Council and Madame Rita Fan, president of the council.
The Ceann Comhairle added that he had extended an invitation to Wu Bangguo to visit Ireland.