The President, Mrs Mary McAleese, today strongly condemned the "ignorance and stupidity" of racists who target members of the Chinese community in Northern Ireland.
President Mary McAleese
Speaking at a hotel in south Belfast, an area which has seen a spiralling level of attacks on ethnic minorities, the President said that both parts of the island had to face up to the issue of racism.
"Regrettably anybody who looks a little bit different is more likely than not to be right in the eye of the storm of this racism", she said. "I hope that between all of us working in dialogue and showing mutual respect that we set an example to those, who in their ignorance and their stupidity, dare to regard any other human being as less than worthy of respect."
The President, who was addressing members of the Belfast Chinese population, praised them for doing the honour of paying the people of Ireland the compliment of seeing it as a place where they wanted to make their home. She joked that if the Chinese hadn't brought their wonderful cuisine to Ireland her children would have died of starvation a long time ago.
There are an estimated 30,000 Chinese people living in the Republic and 10,000 in Northern Ireland.
In recent years, Chinese in the North have become increasingly vulnerable to racist attacks, particularly in Loyalist areas of Belfast. Earlier this year it was claimed that 40 Chinese families had to flee from south Belfast because of harassment from paramilitaries.