Sir, – China’s recent stance on Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan has led me to ponder my own humble relationship with China as an Irish individual who occasionally purchases Chinese-made items.
I’m thinking of buying an electric car in the near future, and had checked out a number of brands online, including MG and Polestar, both made in China and now available in Ireland. However, if China invades Taiwan, international sanctions will inevitably follow, making purchase of spare parts for Chinese cars difficult or impossible and rendering my expensive purchase worthless. Equally there are reports that a deal has been struck to purchase several hundred Chinese-made e-buses for the Irish transport fleet. These buses would quickly become unusable for lack of spare parts if sanctions against China are put into effect.
I fear that unless we reduce our dependence on Chinese-made goods we might find ourselves in a similar embarrassing position to that in which Germany currently finds itself with its dependence on Russian energy. We in Ireland should find alternative sources of manufactured goods before the worst happens. – Yours, etc,
PAVEL MARIANSKI,
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Dungarvan,
Co Waterford.