00:00I'm here in front of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Ireland where Chinese Foreign Minister
00:04Wang Yi is expected to meet Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin and his counterpart Simon Harries
00:09on Monday. Bilateral relations will be front and centre. Talks are expected to cover a range of
00:14topics from trade and investment to global security. China is Ireland's largest trading
00:19partner in Asia. Ireland is one of the few European countries that has a trade surplus
00:24with China. For China, Ireland being part of the EU is considered a gateway to Europe
00:30and in recent years Chinese investment in Ireland has surged. Tech giants like Huawei,
00:35TikTok, Xiying and Timu have European headquarters in the country, attracted by its lower corporate
00:41tax rates and skilled workforce. But Ireland and other EU countries voted to impose additional
00:47tariffs on Chinese-made EVs last year, a move that Beijing strongly opposes. For Ireland,
00:53the challenge is how to navigate its relationship with China without straining its EU commitments.
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