On the eve of his visit to Beijing, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Mr Maurice Ahern, said yesterday he had an open mind on the controversial issue of Dublin twinning with the Chinese capital.
Although the twinning issue was not officially on any agenda during his four-day visit, the matter was something he expected the Chinese side to raise informally with him.
"I am on a fact-finding mission to Beijing and I will report back to Dublin Corporation and to the Protocol Committee my views on my return," he told The Irish Times.
"I am aware that there are many opponents of the idea of Dublin twinning with Beijing, but there are also many people who hold the view that the past has to be left in the past.
"I have an open mind on the matter and I will wait until I hear what the Chinese have to say and until I see the situation for myself."
Mr Ahern said it was no secret that the Government had been forging closer trade links with China. "Relationships between the two countries are closer. We have the Asia strategy in place, which has been very successful," he said.
He would be raising the issue of the detention of a Falun Gong Trinity College student, Mr Zhao Ming, with Chinese officials during his visit. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, has also been asked to raise the matter when he visits China later this month.
Mr Ahern said he had been asked by a group in Trinity College to raise the case of Mr Zhao, who was admitted to the college's computer science department to study for a master's degree in March 1999.
However, he was detained in China in January last year when he went home for Christmas holidays and was placed under house arrest.
It is claimed he has been in Tuan He farm labour camp, near Beijing, since May 2000, has been brutally tortured and forced to renounce his faith. Mr Ahern said he would be raising the matter this week.
Falun Gong is a spiritual meditation practice that emerged in China in 1992. It has gained popularity as a means of improving health and has become well known because of the Chinese government's actions in suppressing it.
The Lord Mayor has been invited to the Chinese capital to attend the High Tech Industry Week Exhibition in Beijing.