Xi meets Taoiseach of Ireland Micheal Martin

BEIJING -- China is willing to strengthen strategic communication with Ireland, deepen political mutual trust and expand pragmatic cooperation to benefit the peoples of both countries and add momentum to China-EU relations, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday.

Xi made the remarks when meeting with Taoiseach of Ireland Micheal Martin in Beijing. The Irish prime minister is on an official visit to China from Jan 4 to 8.

Both China and Ireland cherish peace, embrace openness and inclusiveness, and strive for self-reliance and progress, Xi said, adding that the Chinese and Irish people won national independence and liberation through struggles and are advancing toward modernization through sustained efforts of successive generations.

Since the establishment of the China-Ireland strategic partnership for mutually beneficial cooperation in 2012, bilateral trade volume has quadrupled, with a balanced development in mutual investment, he noted.

Xi said the two countries should maintain friendly exchanges at multiple levels and across diverse fields, continuously enhance communication and mutual understanding, accommodate each other's core interests and major concerns, consolidate political mutual trust, and solidify the political foundation of bilateral relations.

Over the next five years, China will continue to promote high-quality development and expand high-standard opening up. Xi said China is willing to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with Ireland, align development strategies in fields such as artificial intelligence, digital economy, and medicine and healthcare, promote two-way investment, leverage each other's strengths, share opportunities and pursue common development.

The two sides should enhance cooperation in education, culture and tourism to foster greater people-to-people affinity, and China welcomes more Irish youth to come to China for study and exchanges, Xi said.

In a world beset with changes and chaos, unilateral and bullying acts are severely undermining the international order, Xi said. All countries should respect the development paths chosen by the peoples of other nations, and abide by international law as well as the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, he said, stressing that major countries should particularly take the lead in doing so.

As China and Ireland support multilateralism and advocate international fairness and justice, the two countries should strengthen coordination and cooperation in international affairs, and jointly maintain the authority of the United Nations and make the global governance system more just and equitable, he said.

Xi said China and the EU should bear the long-term picture in mind, uphold the positioning of partnership, and view and handle differences objectively and rationally to work for win-win cooperation.

As Ireland will hold the rotating EU presidency in the second half of this year, China hopes Ireland will play a constructive role in promoting the healthy and stable development of China-EU relations, the Chinese president said.

Highlighting a profound and long-lasting friendship between the two countries, the Irish prime minister said Xi's successful visit to Ireland in 2012 had laid a solid foundation for the development of the Ireland-China strategic partnership for mutually beneficial cooperation in recent years.

Martin said Ireland firmly adheres to the one-China policy, and is committed to developing the strategic partnership for mutually beneficial cooperation.

Ireland is willing to deepen cooperation with China in trade, investment, science and technology, biomedicine, renewable energy, artificial intelligence, education and other fields, he said.

Martin commended China's indispensable and important role in international affairs and its positive contributions to upholding the authority of the UN and promoting world peace.

He said that any international dispute should be settled in conformity with international law, and Ireland is willing to maintain close communication and coordination with China, safeguard international law, uphold free and open trade, and promote world prosperity and stability.

Noting that the stable development of EU-China relations is of great significance, Martin said the Irish side is willing to play a constructive role in promoting the healthy development of EU-China relations.