Sunday, April 13, 2008

Panic-stricken Ahern is wrong - Gormley's Tibet remark was no 'slip of the tongue'

Oh dear. Claims by Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern that his government colleague John Gormley's reference to Tibet as a country was 'a slip of the tongue' appear to be...what's the word...bullshit.
Environment Minister John Gormley told the Green Party conference on Saturday that Tibet was a country which had been suppressed and exploited, leading the Chinese Ambassador to Ireland to storm out. Now Ahern is scrambling to defuse the diplomatic row.
Whatever about sitting through a (very necessary) lecture on human rights, the Chinese flip the lid at suggestions that Tibet is anything other than one of its Provinces.
Dermot Ahern, pictured right, slapping Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the arse, said he had discussed Gormley's speech with him on Friday - presumably with a view to avoiding precisely this kind of embarrassment - and it had been agreed that the Green leader could urge the Reds to enter talks with the Dalai Lama.
However, the Greens kindly posted Gormley's speech on their website, revealing that the line which suggests that Tibet is a country was, in fact, part of the original text, rather than an off-the-cuff remark:
"Respect for human rights must extend to all cultures and countries. One country which has been exploited and suppressed and suffered for far too long is Tibet. We condemn unequivocally the flagrant human rights abuses by the Chinese government and call on the Chinese government to enter dialogue with the Dalai Lama."
Ahern bent over backwards not to upset the Chinese during an interview on Prime Time during the week and will be desperate to kiss and make up with the sensitive Chinese, lest Gormley's remarks damage diplomatic (read trade) relations.
Liu Biwei, the Chinese Ambassador stormed out of the Green Party meeting, pointedly saying he hoped the economic relationship between China and Ireland could go on.
Be afraid, be very afraid.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you in Beijing? I was graduated from Communication University of China and have been in Dublin for three months. Yesterday, there was a 3000-people protest in city center, GPO, for supporting Beijing Olympic Games. No local media covered that,little bit disappointed.
Ireland is an amazing country, I enjoyed my life here. What do you think of Beijing?
Li Xiaodong

Gary Finnegan said...

Hi Li Xiaodong,
Thanks for your comment.
I'm surprised the protest didn't get any coverage. Maybe it will be in the papers today as part of the coverage of John Gormley's comments on Saturday.
If you don't mind me saying so, I think Sunday is a better day for protests in Dublin because the papers are always looking for something to write about in Monday's paper. By Saturday, most of the Sunday papers are almost finished.
You should write a short letter (with photos) to the Irish Times, Irish Independent and Irish Examiner stating your disappointment. Also say that it makes ordinary Chinese people feel that the media is not objective.
Get an Irish friend to proof-read it.
I'm enjoying Beijing a lot. I wish the government would ease their internet censorship but I don't hold my Chinese friends and colleagues responsible for that!

Anonymous said...

Hi Mr.Finnegan,

My name is Marshall, one of the organizers of last Saturday's chinese demontration at GPO.

first of all, thank you for your advice, definitely we will bear it in mind for the next time.

As one of thousands of ordinary oversea chinese living in Ireland, we feel the whole world is against us! not only against the chinese government, but the chinese people. We always treat Irish people and Ireland like friends, but some Irish politicians keep hurting us, Mr. John Gormley TD 's comments last weeks damaged the relations between our two countries and people.
We are thinking of another demonstration, and we hope Irish people can understand our feeling, One Country, One Voice.

All I want to say is China is not a perfect country, and in fact no coutry is perfect. we need help from friends, not boycott of Olympics games.

You may email me zhenningliu@yahoo.com , and we need advice to build up a peaceful world.

Best Regards,

Marshall

Gary Finnegan said...

Hi Marshall,
Thanks for your comment.
I hope your message is heard after the next protest. I'm not saying I agree with you, but it would be disappointing if you were ignored.
I should add that I really don't think the world is against the Chinese people.
Like millions of other people across the world, I marched against the US-led invasion of Iraq. However, I have nothing against the American people (except for the fact that they elected Bush twice!).
I think most people draw a distinction between a government and its people especially, if I may say so, when it's not an elected government.
Good luck with the demonstration.

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