The President, Mrs Mary McAleese, arrived in Beijing yesterday on the third day of her official visit to China. Mrs McAleese, who will meet the Chinese President, Mr Hu Jintao, later this week, was greeted at Beijing airport by the vice minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Qiao Zhonghuai.
A ceremonial welcome for the President takes place today at the Great Hall of the People on Tiananamen Square, scene of the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy students and workers. The President and Dr Martin McAleese are accompanied by the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey.
In her address to the Irish community and friends at a reception at the Irish Embassy last night Mrs McAleese praised the Riverdance company for a wonderful showcase for modern Ireland. She said there were no better ambassadors for the country. There will be a gala performance of Riverdance before 6,000 people at the Great Hall of the People on Friday night. Riverdance will be seen by a total audience of 50,000 during two weeks of performances in Beijing and Shanghai.
"The importance of cultural exchange in fostering mutual understanding and in building up international goodwill simply could not be underestimated," Mrs McAleese said.
Guests at last night's reception included Ms Moya Doherty, Mr John McColgan and Ms Joan Egan of Tyrone Productions. Ms Doherty told reporters that the company's original plan to come to China in the spring had been dropped because of SARS.
Now demand for tickets - priced between €17 and €125 - had been so great extra performances were arranged. If the Chinese market worked, she said, the company intended putting another troupe on the road to add to the two already working.
Among Irish business people at the reception were Mr Martin Naughton and Mr Seán O'Driscoll of Glen Dimplex who will open a joint venture in Shenyang in the presence of the President on Saturday. The plant will eventually employ 500 people making night storage heaters which are expected to be in great demand when coal is shortly banned in several areas in China.
Criticism from SIPTU that jobs will be endangered in Ireland as a result where dismissed by Mr Peter Coyle, the executive director of Enterprise Ireland. He said last night that all the contracts being negotiated here this week were about winning business in China, rather than migrating jobs from Ireland.
Enterprise Ireland had total sympathy with SIPTU's concerns but this was about competitiveness. Many companies bought parts in the east which saved jobs at home.
Today Mr Dempsey will finalise a number of educational ventures to bring Chinese students into Ireland. Last year 10,000 came to study at Irish third-level institutions and English language schools. Their value to the economy was about €40 million a year. That number could be doubled in the next five years.
China was about 10 million places short for third-level students, Mr Dempsey said, and as only 5 per cent of the Chinese 18 to 22-year-olds went to university, there was a huge market in meeting this demand overseas.
With the student age population increasing in China and Ireland's decreasing, there was a huge market he hoped Ireland could tap into. His Department also wanted to regularise the area of teaching English as a foreign language.