WHEN CHINA’S vice-president Xi Jinping lands in Shannon today for a getting-to-know-you trip to our shores, a rare opportunity presents itself for Ireland to expand its role as a key trading partner of China, the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
As he pulled his seatbelt tight and prepared to take off from the US for Ireland, it’s interesting to speculate about what Xi was thinking about his destination. Why Ireland? Later this year, Xi Jinping will become one of the most powerful people on the planet when he assumes leadership of the Communist Party that runs China. His country is the world’s second-biggest economy, and his power is not mitigated by democratic norms such as a functioning opposition.
His schooling in how to view Ireland will have been very diverse, although a visit here in the mid-noughties as a senior cadre in the booming province of Zhejiang will have given him a sense of the country.
Perceptions of Ireland in China are mixed, ranging from negative to hugely admiring, helped by a low-level but effective marketing campaign by Fáilte Ireland. However, they are sometimes outlandish. In a Chinese advertisement for fast-food restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken, a foreigner is served chicken pieces cooked in Irish crème liqueur, and the screen pans over green fields before returning to the delighted lao waitasting his chicken feast.
Businesswoman Wang Xiyuan says that Ireland is very far away. “I only know about it from books and TV. It is a country where men wear kilts, a beautiful country, and also a member of the EU, so people have a good life. People there are good at singing and dancing. I hope some day to travel to Ireland,” she says.
Company director Hu Yujiang knows Ireland because of U2. "I have never been to Ireland, but I know U2 and the movie In The Name of The Father,which tells of the pain the struggle for independence brought to the Irish people. Ireland is different from other European countries. It was not over-influenced by modernisation; it seems to have preserved its old British literary atmosphere and keeps more of the traditional European culture, even though the weather is cold," says Hu.
Xi, which is pronounced “shee” like the Irish “sí”, is not your average Chinese leader and is unlikely to have been swayed by the KFC ad. He is married to a wildly popular folk singer, Peng Liyuan, who is probably more famous than he is. Xi’s daughter is a sophomore at Harvard, and a number of his siblings have studied abroad, so he is no naïf when it comes to dealing with the West.
When he disembarks he will be looking at the Irish economic model. The Chinese love models – one of his ports of call will be Shannon, which the Chinese say was a model for their incredibly successful Special Economic Zones, areas where free enterprise was allowed to flourish since the 1970s and which formed the template for China’s burgeoning economy.
The official government line on the visit does little to clarify the reasons behind it. Foreign ministry spokesperson Liu Weiming talks of “ceaselessly deepening” relations between Ireland and China. Asked the purpose of Xi’s visit here, the foreign ministry said it wants to further deepen the relationship and promote the development of relations between China and Europe. This is also what China’s ambassador to Ireland, Luo Linquan, emphasises.
“China regards Ireland as a good friend and partner in EU, and we hope Ireland will continue to play a positive role to promote steady and sound development of China’s relations with EU,” says Luo.
Luo has the dry humour that many in his hometown of Suzhou in Eastern China share, and he is particularly pleased that Suzhou has a GAA team. The GAA is becoming a powerful force in Asia, and it’s notable the big role the organisation plays in this visit: Xi will visit Croke Park and watch a hurling match.
“Since China and Ireland established diplomatic relations 33 years ago, the total amount of bilateral trade has increased by more than 1,000 times,” says Luo.
The focus is often on long-term issues. It’s noticeable that the Chinese are less concerned with the current economic malaise in Ireland than one might think. “China and Ireland should have our eyes on long-term development, with the view to the general interest of China-Europe relations,” says Luo.
Luo believes that, as two countries with “long history and splendid culture”, Ireland and China should work on boosting cooperation on areas such as IT, communication, pharmaceuticals, green industries, agriculture and food.
A big man, over six feet tall, Xi is gregarious in a style that has appealed to many Irish who have met him, including former president Mary McAleese. The visit to Ireland will give a rare opportunity for Ireland to assess how it can expand trade with the fast-growing China.
The picture of Ireland being portrayed in China is not of a country drowning in debt, but of a young nation that shook off the mantle of colonialism, dabbled in agribusiness for decades under a theocratic system, then joined the EU before making a terrific leap into high-value sectors such as biotech and IT. Its successful emigrants are another role model for the Chinese, who are even more mobile than the Irish.
And while China’s anointed chief is a Communist blueblood, he is also someone of wide experience. He was born on June 1st, 1953, the son of a guerrilla revolutionary, Xi Zhongxun. Xi Jinping was the third of four children born to his father’s second wife. His father was one of Chairman Mao Zedong’s most loyal servants, and his service during the revolution earned him a vice-premiership. Xi spent his early childhood in Zhongnanhai, the old imperial compound beside the Forbidden City where he will spend his days from October when he ascends to power.
China has not made up its mind about Xi’s leadership. People are wary of calling him a reformer, because everyone called Hu Jintao a reformer and he turned out to be a conservative. The reformist writer Yu Jie declared Xi Jinping an “empty suit”, just another Communist Party hack, and points out that the only reformist impulses in the past decade came from his deputy, Wen Jiabao.
THE FACT THATXi has just visited Muscatine in Iowa, where he once stayed as a junior cadre, and drunk tea with old friends there, is important in China and beyond. It shows a "down home" side to Xi, and perhaps points a way to a different era in Sino-Irish relations.
During this week’s visit by Xi to Washington DC, the attitude to Xi was mixed. US president Barack Obama was friendly when it came to trade issues, but stern on human-rights questions. And because China has a massive trade deficit with the US, Republicans are using this as a way to attack Obama in the election campaign. But even Republican-controlled Congress recognises that the US needs China if global growth is to be kept on course.
“It is our fervent hope that vice president Xi can reverse the course of his predecessors and usher in positive changes in China. But we remain extremely concerned, as the run-up to Vice President Xi becoming the next leader of China has been accompanied by one of the worst crackdowns in recent memory,” said Chris Smith, who chairs the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China Commission.
“Beyond that, China’s oppression of house churches, censorship of the internet, and one-child policy continues unabated.”
The things that Chinese people like about Ireland are generally in line with the things that most people like about Ireland, but there are a few surprises.
Riverdanceis hugely popular. Chinese audiences are often bored by Western theatre productions, shifting in their seats and sending text messages, but they love Riverdancewith a passion, and one of the most remarkable sights is watching a Chinese audience stamp their feet and clap as the Riverdancetroupe goes through the motions.
Overall, the Chinese impression of Ireland is a good one, and certainly awareness of Ireland has been boosted by the Chinese diaspora. “There are a lot of Chinese in Ireland these days. I walked the streets of Dublin, even in Bray, I saw Chinese everywhere. And it’s not only limited to Chinese restaurants,” a user named Weicheng wrote on Weibo, the Chinese version of the banned Twitter network. “Chinese influence extends to hair salons, supermarkets, telecoms shops, karaoke. Even gambling halls.”
Economic collapse means that not all images of Ireland are positive.
“Ireland’s economy has a bit of a problem, the cost of living is very bad, and I can’t imagine how people do business there,” wrote Panming Yizhihousheng late last year on Weibo. “The vacancy rate in the CBD [Central Business District] is very high. If one day Ireland went bankrupt, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
