THE Chinese government has put off a visit to Ireland in May by China's vice premier, Mr Zhu Rongji, in protest at the State's support for a Danish UN resolution criticising China's human rights record. It would have been the most important ever official visit to Ireland by a Chinese leader.
The news was given to the Irish Ambassador, Mr Joe Hayes, when he was called in by the Chinese government yesterday, along with the envoys of Austria and Luxembourg to receive a formal reproach about their "anti China" action in co sponsoring the motion.
The motion marks a low point in formal relations between China and Ireland. No Irish ambassador has been summoned by the Foreign Ministry in Beijing for a demarche since diplomatic relations were established in 1979.
The 10 EU states which put their names to the human rights motion have now virtually all received unprecedented diplomatic protests from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Mr Zhu is one of seven members of the ruling standing committee of the politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and is regarded as China's economic leader. He was to have visited the Netherlands, Austria, Luxembourg and Ireland during a European tour to promote trade.
The Chinese reserved their harshest criticism for the Netherlands and Denmark, the prime movers of the UN resolution which urged Beijing to observe human rights and protect the cultural identity of the Tibetan people. It was defeated by a Chinese blocking motion at the UNHuman Rights Commission in Geneva on Tuesday.
"Business contacts and trade between China, Holland and Denmark are really going to be hit", said a European diplomat. "The message was that the others should reflect on the wisdom of pursuing a non productive approach next year.
China has already put out planned visits by two Danish ministers and a Dutch trade mission. However, an Irish Chinese trade commission meeting in Beijing in May is likely to go ahead.
"Denmark and Holland were given the red card, the rest got a yellow card", said a Western envoy, who added that the EU faced a dilemma on how to respond in a unified manner.
France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Greece declined this year for the first time since 1990 to criticise China in Geneva, urging engagement on human rights instead.
The Chinese have not linked their protest to Ireland with the Government's international campaign to have the President, Mrs Robinson, appointed to the post of UN Human Rights Commissioner. The Tanaiste, Mr Spring, told RTE yesterday that her nomination stood on its own merits and should not be confused with Government policy on human rights.
Ireland was not looking for confrontation with China, Mr Spring said. "We made it very clear that our position on human rights was one we'd been consistent with and we certainly weren't backing away from it at this stage."
Mr Spring also said he did not accept criticism in yesterday's Irish Times that Ireland's overall policy on China was characterised by indifference. "We've had a number of bilateral meetings with the Chinese Foreign Minister over the years and we made our position very clear", he said.