Members of the Uyghur and Hong Kong communities living in Ireland have called on the Government to raise transnational repression with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi when they meet him in Dublin.
Mr Wang, who is also a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, met senior European leaders at the weekend and attended the Munich Security Conference, before flying to Dublin where he is to meet Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris.
In a statement, groups representing Uyghurs and Hongkongers living in Ireland called on Mr Martin and Mr Harris to “demand concrete actions with respect to acts of transnational repression, genocide, and politically motivated imprisonment perpetrated by the People’s Republic of China [PRC].”
They said they wanted to draw the Government’s attention to Chinese state surveillance and harassment of diaspora communities living in Ireland.
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“It is a matter of Ireland’s security as much as it is about the security of [the] person and freedoms of speech, of thought, of assembly being impeded on Irish soil when it comes to dissidents of the Chinese state.”
They said members of their communities do not feel safe even though they had been living in Ireland for years.
“We do not feel we can openly exercise our right to protest, for fear of retribution by the regime to our family members back home or within Ireland itself, or to lose our chance to visit our homelands, if the Government’s failure to address clandestine activities by the PRC means that individual dissidents and their families could be identified and harassed by the Chinese state.”
The European Union has recognised China as employing transnational repression against members of the Uyghur, Hongkonger, Tibetan and Taiwanese communities, they said.
“Just this past week, the Hong Kong authorities detained the aunt and uncle of an exiled Hongkonger activist for interrogation, to punish her for taking part in a community-wide, legal protest in London the previous Saturday,” the statement said.
Incidents like these have created a chilling effect felt by diasporic Hongkongers living in Ireland and elsewhere, it said.
The statement, issued by the Irish Uyghur Cultural Association, the European Hong Kong Diaspora Alliance and Stand With Hong Kong, called on the Taoiseach and Tánaiste to raise human rights and repression with Mr Wang.
“Diplomatic ties and economic growth should be predicated upon a commitment to protect the security of residents in Ireland and to stand up for subjugated communities,” they said. “People in Ireland have a right to live free from fear.”
Mr Wang is the second top-level Chinese political figure to visit Ireland in just over a year, following a trip by premier Li Qiang in January 2024.
“Ireland is China’s strategic partner for mutually beneficial co-operation. Over recent years, bilateral relations have enjoyed a sound growth momentum,” the Chinese foreign ministry said last week when announcing the visit, which is taking place at the request of the Chinese government.
