By Liz Lee
BEIJING, Jan 6 (Reuters) – Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin is set to have more in-depth talks on trade with China’s No. 2 official on Tuesday, working to strengthen strategic ties with the world’s second-largest economy amid frosty China-European Union relations.
Martin’s scheduled meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang forms part of his five-day trip that he said would include “a significant economic dimension”, a clip posted on the Irish Taoiseach’s X handle on Monday evening showed.
The Irish leader was seen in the clip telling media that he would discuss with Li in “greater detail” trade issues such as beef exports and China’s recently imposed tariffs on dairy, a day after a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“I discussed obviously the situation in terms of Irish beef exports into China, the tariff situation in respect of dairy products,” Martin said, adding that Xi “undertook to engage with Chinese officials in respect of those specific issues.”
Martin described his meeting with Xi on Monday as a “warm and constructive engagement”, covering a range of issues including bilateral and EU-China ties.
“On a broader level, I think the President was keen that Europe and China would have a broader framework to govern trade into the future,” he said.
Xi had told Martin during the meeting that China and the EU should “bear the long-term picture in mind”, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Ties between China and the EU have been tense since the EU imposed levies on Chinese electric vehicle imports in 2024. China has since retaliated with a series of measures including the latest tariffs on EU dairy products.
Last week, China also set import quotas and additional tariffs on beef imports from this year, a move affecting global exporters of the meat into the Asian country.
The first Taoiseach to visit China since 2012, Martin has recently downplayed the Irish intelligence agency’s portrayal of China as a “hostile state actor”, preferring instead to adopt a long-term and strategic understanding of China.
(Reporting by Liz Lee; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
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