THE TAOISEACH's decision to leave behind an extraordinary domestic political crisis to travel to Shanghai is a sign of how Asia, and particularly China, has taken on a new importance against the backdrop of an Irish economy in freefall. The large group of Irish entrepreneurs who went ahead of Mr Cowen to Shanghai, then to Beijing, drummed up a respectable €25 million in trade deals.
This is an impressive figure given that investment has all but dried up in the West and the US is still scratching its head and wondering how it got itself into such a financial mess. There is growing recognition that Ireland needs China and the other emerging economics of east and southeast Asia as trading partners if it is to ride out the recession.
China is an extremely useful trading partner but it cannot save the world alone. It too is feeling the impact of the global economic slowdown. The Beijing government announced last week that the economy expanded by nine per cent in the third quarter. This is its lowest rate for five years, albeit one that will keep it on track for strong annual growth and a performance that no country in Europe can expect to match.
Chinese exporters, who largely fuelled the country's growth in past decades, are seeing the effects of slack external demand. But there is little desperation on the streets of Beijing. Take a look at China's strengths - €1.4 trillion in US dollar foreign exchange reserves, a banking sector largely unaffected by the subprime fiasco and a government capable of funding economic measures to stimulate domestic demand and to help stop the property market from collapsing.
For the Chinese, the Asia Europe Meeting - also attended by Mr Cowen - was important because there is a feeling that Europe needs to shoulder its responsibilities in coming up with an alternative global financial system to the one that has just failed. German chancellor Angela Merkel has reached agreement with Chinese president Hu Jintao on co-ordinating this kind of project and Ireland should have a role in bringing a successful resolution to efforts to shore up the damage done by the credit crunch.
China has long looked to Ireland as a model for its own IT industry and the global economic crisis is unlikely to affect the admiration it feels for Ireland's success in wooing US tech firms to its shores to take advantage of the Irish education system. Notwithstanding controversy over education funding at home, it is this reputation for robust educational standards that will boost the universities and schools that travelled with the Irish delegation. Indeed, some of the most exciting developments by Irish companies in China relate to language training. Then there are healthcare, architecture and manufacturing projects, any number of sectors where Irish companies need only gain a little piece of the Chinese market to help offset the impact of sluggish demand from Europe and the US.
Mr Cowen returns home to a political storm but boosting Ireland's profile in one of the few potential growth spots in the world was worth the air miles.