Sir, – I’d like to commend Eddie O’Connor (Opinion, October 7th) on his insightful appraisal of what Ireland needs to do in order to make the most of the Chinese century.
Through my own business experiences in that country, I can see that while Ireland has improved its business ties with China, much work still needs to be done. At a time of limited State budgets, it might not be popular to suggest this, but as a first step we should expand our network of consulates in mainland China, where we currently have only two permanent missions (Beijing and Shanghai). In contrast, in the United States our nation is represented by six permanent missions and eight honorary consuls. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Regarding Eddie O’Connor’s article (Opinion, October 7th) on inviting China to “save us” financially: we need to be very careful what we wish for, especially when one examines China’s deplorable record on human rights, particularly in Tibet, where “disappearances” and political and religious repression are the norm. – Yours, etc,