The Chinese, in common with many Orientals, are sticklers for protocol, and on top of the row over the aborted trip by Irish Times Beijing correspondent, Conor O'Clery, to Tibet, two new Irish problems face them next week. Firstly, they are perplexed over how to treat the Taoiseach's companion, Celia Larkin, during Bertie Ahern's official visit to China. They have never been presented with a similar situation and are unsure about how she should be addressed. Secondly, our former president, Mary Robinson, will also be in Beijing on Monday and Tuesday next, and who should get precedence, she or Bertie?
But problems are solvable, as a Chinese proverb might say. Larkin, Quidnunc's sources in China report, will be treated with full respect and dignity and is already being referred to as a tai tai, the formal Chinese word for wife which temporarily fell out of use under communism. Her presence indicates what a modern nation we now are.
Then, as the Taoiseach meets President Jiang Zemin, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights will be holding her all-important press conference ending her muchhyped visit, and there will be competition for attention. The Chinese have decided that protocol dictates the two should meet.
The Taoiseach's trip, the first by an Irish head of government, will be followed by visits from six other European prime ministers, all anxious to do business and improve relations with the giant of the East. Our man, who won't depart before the final whistle in the hurling at Croke Park tomorrow, will be getting the red carpet treatment, including a welcome in Tiananmen Square and a state dinner with his host, prime minister Zhu Rongji. His programme also includes an address to students at a diplomatic school.
Meanwhile, at her own request, Celia Larkin is departing from the usual spouses' programme of shopping and sightseeing to visit a typical Chinese family and view how they cope with economic difficulties and changing lifestyles.