Tánaiste rebuffs Chinese claim that Ireland is succumbing to 'American and European fever'

In an interview with the 'Irish Examiner' last month, Mr He said cybersecurity fears over Chinese equipment from firms including Huawei and Tiktok are nonsense, and the so-called threat was exaggerated by the Americans and some people in Europe.

He said singling out any Chinese company was “totally unfair” and a “tactic” used by some countries to seek unfair competitive advantage over Chinese-owned companies.

When it was put to him that it was the State’s own expert advice that Tiktok be removed from official government phones and it was not influenced by similar decisions made in the US or UK, Mr He said he did not know why such advice was given, adding: “So maybe one of the answers is American-fever or European-fever."

In Beijing on Monday, Mr Martin said although the US-Irish relationship is strong and deep, Ireland has its own independent foreign policy.

"In terms of the view articulated by the Chinese ambassador (it) doesn’t really stand up. We take our positions on a whole range of issues but we do engage and consult with the US.

We don’t accept that Ireland is somehow... we don’t succumb to America, there’s no evidence. There are trade tensions everywhere, there are trade tensions between Europe and the US.

“Even during covid-19 we didn’t agree with the US position on a ban on export of vaccine components and I was very strong on that. In fact we stopped it happening in Europe."

The Tánaiste also said Ireland has its own independent foreign policy within the UN framework and within a European framework.

"We’ve demonstrated that time and time again on different issues. 

"But we’re part of the European Union and one only has to look at the most recent voting records at the UN in respect of the Middle East and you see a very strong sense of Ireland’s independent positioning and also working with like-minded countries in Europe. Indeed, many of them look to Ireland for solidity on that question.” 

Mr Martin made the comments shortly after a meeting with China’s vice president Han Zheng. Ambassador He was also in attendance.

The Tánaiste said he thought remarks made by the vice president were “significant” in terms of China’s relationship with the US. He said: 

“He was very clear that globalisation could not be reversed. He said it’s fundamental that China will remain open in terms of its economic outlook. 

I think that is significant given all of the discussions we’ve had in the last two to three years about a post-pandemic, strategic economy. [There was] the sense that China was looking more inward but that certainly wasn’t the sense of the discussion we had.

Mr Martin said the vice president “instanced the increasing level of exchanges between the US and China and the growing of common understandings which I thought again was significant".

The Tánaiste will hold a high-level meeting with China’s foreign affairs minister Wang Yi on Tuesday. 

It is expected that the issue of “derisking” will come up during discussions.

Earlier this year, the Fianna Fáil leader said the Government and private sector need to be "realistic" and "clear-eyed" about China's strategic objectives and their implications for Ireland. 

He also said the private sector and academia need to assess their relationship with China and areas where they may need to “de-risk”. 

The comments led to criticism from the Chinese embassy in Ireland which said Mr Martin's comments could damage the trade and economic relationship between the two countries.