Micheal Martin, Taoiseach of Ireland, speaks in a group interview in Beijing on January 5, 2025. Photo: Yin Yeping/GT

The Chinese market is very important, particularly for the Irish food and drinks industry, and life sciences and technology will be strong components of our trading relationship with China, Micheal Martin, Taoiseach of Ireland, told the Global Times in a group interview in Beijing during his ongoing China visit.

The Irish leader is making his official visit to China from Sunday to Thursday, the first visit to China by an Irish Taoiseach in 14 years. On Tuesday, he attended an educational cooperation event between Chinese and Irish educational institutions in Beijing, before traveling to Shanghai later that evening.

At a media event on Monday evening, in reply to a Global Times question about the importance of the Chinese market for Irish businesses and products, Taoiseach Martin acknowledged its significance and highlighted several areas with potential for cooperation, including renewable energy.

"We have a lot of windy islands, so we have a lot of potential to harness wind energy... there are opportunities for investment in terms of new wind farms that would be offshore in the seas of Ireland. And we feel that would contribute significantly to our energy mix, not only reducing our dependency on fossil fuels, but also helping to power the AI revolution where there is also opportunity for cooperation."

On a further note, he said that he believes that it is entirely complementary to have a strong bilateral relationship, both for Ireland and China.

As the world is facing a rising trend of unilateralism and protectionism, highlighted by the US' tariff policies, the Irish official also stressed the need for open trade while opposing tariffs.

"There are tensions in trade today in the world. There's no point pretending that they are not. What is important is that we continue to dialogue and see if we can develop frameworks of our agreements on the big picture to specific items to seek to create a stable trading relationship, particularly between the EU, of which we are a member, and China," Martin said.

He gave the example of how Ireland manifests itself as a free trade supporter. "We are a small island, but we have a big economy built on open trade, and we export nearly 90 percent of everything we manufacture... So, we can understand or adhere to our attachment to an open, free trade environment," Martin said.

The Irish official also expressed his opposition to the [abuse of] tariffs, which he said "are ultimately damaging for the world economy." "We have to navigate like everybody else and we have to work with other countries. So, you can get some resolution to these issues," Martin said.

Responding to media questions on how Ireland and China should strengthen coordination to jointly uphold multilateralism and safeguard a rule-based multilateral trading system and promote the stability of global industrial and supply chains, Martin said that "there is a need to enhance the authority of the United Nations, and then the UN of the future would have a more central role in resolving wars and resolving disputes."