Positive European agenda stressed at meeting

THE EUROPEAN agenda had taken a positive direction, the Taoiseach told Chinese premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People yesterday.

Mr Kenny said to reporters afterwards that the Chinese government was “very anxious that Europe would prosper [and] would focus on cutting costs and increasing competitiveness”.

“I pointed out to the premier that, for the first time, at the last European Council meeting, the agenda was not about catastrophe, default, [or] the demise of the euro or the euro zone,” he said.

Mr Kenny told the Chinese leader that, instead, the Brussels meeting had focused on “a growth and jobs agenda which will become central to every council meeting from now on”.

Asked at the press conference about criticism that the Government played down human rights issues in China for economic reasons, Mr Kenny said: “I raised this matter with the premier this evening. He was very direct in his response. He said, ‘We have never shied away from this’.

“He made the point that for the decade of his premiership, the protection of human rights has been [a] central [issue] . . . He pointed out . . . changes to the criminal law procedure . . . which have the protection of human rights at their core.

“He said himself that, clearly in a country of this size and scale, there is always room for improvement, and I pointed out to him that, in respect of individual cases, these would be pursued at official level.”

On his arrival for the meeting with Mr Wen, the Taoiseach was greeted with a performance of Ireland’s national anthem by the band of the People’s Liberation Army.