BUSINESS, education and cultural issues are on the agenda during President Mary McAleese’s visit to China, which began in Beijing on Sunday and will continue to Shanghai this week, where she will visit the Irish pavilion at the World Expo.
The President held talks at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing on Sunday with Chinese vice-president Xi Jinping, who is widely tipped to succeed president Hu Jintao in 2012.
The two spoke for more than half an hour, had lunch and discussed economic and cultural issues, and ways of strengthening co-operation between Ireland and China.
The meeting with Mr Xi is significant, as it comes shortly after vice-premier Li Keqiang, who is expected to become the successor to premier Wen Jiabao, met Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin in Beijing.
Ireland’s profile in China is high, largely because the Chinese are interested in how the State moved from being a largely rural economy to wooing software companies from the US to the country to help growth.
Mr Xi visited Ireland in April. Mrs McAleese extended a further invitation to him and to Mr Hu.
Mr Xi said Ireland had a “strategic view” when it came to developing relations with China, and told local media that both sides should take a long-term view of their relationship and strengthen co-operation.
“China will work with Ireland to promote the continuous development of bilateral relations,” Mr Xi told the Xinhua news agency.
There are 115 Irish companies with a stake in China, many of them in the education sector, and China is Ireland’s seventh most important trading partner. Trade with China is worth around €4 billion annually.
State agencies are trying to woo Chinese companies to Ireland as a marketing and service base for their European business.
This five-day trip is the President’s second visit to China as head of state. She will attend the Shanghai World Expo’s Irish National Pavilion Day on June 17th. The Expo will also be attended by Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan.
She is accompanied by her husband, Dr Martin McAleese.
The Chinese are also said to be interested in the Northern Ireland peace process, because they want to see if the negotiations over the status of Northern Ireland in the UK might help to resolve issues between the People’s Republic of China and self-ruled Taiwan.
Mrs McAleese met children of migrant workers at the Bai Nian Vocational School in Beijing yesterday.