Council begins building links with China during study trip
MONDAY’S meeting heard how a delegation from Wicklow County Council paid a visit to China in June for a study trip in Hainan to help establish a sister county-province relationship.
Plans to foster a relationship between Wicklow and the Hainan province came about after the Chinese Ambassador, his Excellency Jianguo Xu, was a guest for a Wicklow County Council meeting and presentation held in June of last year.
Hainan Island is China’s smallest and most southerly province but still has a population of nine million. It has also been established as a special economy zone by the Chinese Government.
The delegation consisted of then outgoing cathaoirleach, Cllr John Ryan, Cllr Gerry Walsh, Noel Dempsey of Wicklow Tourism, Sheelagh Daly of the Local Enterprise Office Wicklow and Christine Flood, Senior Executive Officer.
Cllr Walsh presented a breakdown of the trip to his fellow councillors. During their stay, they were greeted by the Vice- Governor of Hainan, Wang Lu, and the Senior Governor, Liu Ciugi, as well as representatives from the overseas, education, trade and tourism sectors.
Quoting Mr Ciugi’s words to the delegation, Cllr Walsh said ‘ he said ‘your visit demonstrates the seriousness you have in progressing our friendship and cooperation.’ He also said he looked forward to visiting us in Wicklow next year.’
Other ports-of-call for the visiting delegation included Hainan Software County, which hosts 928 companies and 7,500 workers, Hainan University and Hainan Normal University, where plans are already underway to cooperate with Maynooth College.
Cllr Michael O’Connor questioned the necessity of sending the delegation to China.
‘Did any specific ideas or any specific economic cooperation between Ireland and the China Republic come about as a result of this visit?’ he asked.
While Cllr Nicola Lawless welcomed any moves to attract business and tourism to Wicklow, she had reservations over China’s military movements and human rights record.
However, Cllr Grainne McLoughlin countered: ‘Congratulations to the council for their foresight. If we don’t work with China, someone else will.’