Ireland has an opportunity to speak for the voiceless

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column

Michael Commane

I put on a new summer shirt on Sunday and while unwrapping it I checked the collar to see where it was made. Bangladesh. I trust and pray that the people who made it are paid some sort of decent wage. 

But I suppose I looked at country of origin half expecting to see those five letters China on it. So much of what we buy these days is made in China.

 

On Thursday, July 1, ‘The Irish Times’ carried a full-page advertisement from the Chinese government. It caught my eye. I read all 1,500 words on the page. My first reaction was one of surprise, indeed, I was so surprised, that I commented on it the next day on my blog.

The text was written by He Xiangdong, the Chinese ambassador to Ireland. The ad marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. 

The ambassador draws similarities between Ireland and China and writes in glowing terms of the current relationship between our two countries. He stresses the Chinese Communist Party is solidly supported by the Chinese people.

That same day on the lunchtime RTE Radio news I heard a report on comments made by the Chinese leader Xi Jinping, celebrating the milestone event. He said: ‘Anyone who tries to bully China will have their heads bashed bloody against the great wall of steel forged by more than 1.4 million Chinese people.’ 

That put a chill down my spine. And it certainly didn’t seem to gel with the soft words that his ambassador was writing in ‘The Irish Times’. They were indeed words similar to what Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong might have spoken.

 

The following weekend ‘The Sunday Times’ was most critical of the Chinese ad that appeared in ‘The Irish Times’. It ran a story on the subject and columnist David Quinn was critical of the paper running the ad. I carefully read both pieces in ‘The Sunday Times’ and they made some valid points but why did I keep saying to myself ‘The Sunday Times’ is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and naturally he would be strongly opposed to the philosophy and behaviour of the Chinese Communist Party?

I was reminded of author Jung Chang’s ‘Wild Swans’, which is a powerful account of the brutality the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong unleashed on the Chinese people.

Currently I’m reading stories of how China is incarcerating large numbers of Uighurs, Chinese Muslims, in the northwest of the country. The Chinese leadership is sabre rattling about Taiwan and have used tough versions of the jackboot in Hong Kong.

China is powerful. Ireland has a relationship of dependency with the country. How can I find out the truth? Who tells the truth? Dare I ask, what is truth? But people who suffer at the hands of dictatorships can quickly and clearly tell us what dictators really do.

Right now Ireland has a seat at the UN Security Council. I hope we are using it to the advantage of all the world’s citizens, especially those who are downtrodden and maltreated.