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Source: O’Halloran Family
Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has called on Irish MEPs to delay the presentation of a resolution condemning the detention of Dublin businessman Richard O’Halloran in China.
Coveney called on MEPs Barry Andrews and Sean Kelly, who have coordinated their approach to the O’Halloran case, to postpone the presentation of the motion in the March plenary session of the European Parliament, as the “broad engagement at the European Parliament continues. high-level politician and diplomat. ” with the Chinese authorities.
Richard O’Halloran, a father of four, has been unable to leave China since February 2019 when he traveled to Shanghai to resolve an ongoing business and legal issue involving the Chinese owner of the company he works for: the leasing company. based in Dublin China International Aviation Leasing Service (CALS Ireland).
There are no allegations of wrongdoing against O’Halloran, but the Chinese authorities have refused to allow the 45-year-old to leave the country. The Chinese PSB (Public Security Bureau) told O’Halloran last month that the exit ban that had been imposed on him had been lifted; however, when he tried to board a flight at Shanghai airport on January 10, the authorities rejected him.
Andrews and Kelly agreed to postpone their motion following Coveney’s request. The next opportunity for them to raise the O’Halloran case at the EU level will be during the next plenary session in mid-April. Andrews said TheJournal.ie that he and Kelly are ready to do what is best in the interests of the O’Halloran family
“The family will advise me at all times and what they think is best for them. If they want this matter to be taken to the European level, we will accept it, ”he said.
Along the same lines, a Seanad debate on O’Halloran’s fate was postponed for two weeks on February 15 after Minister Coveney contacted Independent Senator Michael McDowell to tell him that the negotiations were at a “delicate stage. “and that a debate on the matter could” delay the process. “
McDowell told Seanad that he was giving the department the “benefit of the doubt” by not allowing the House to debate the matter, but that he would move forward with the motion within two weeks if O’Halloran’s release had not been secured. in the future. in the meantime.
Andrews said the wording of the resolution for the April session has yet to be written, but his priority will be to highlight “the illegality in international law of the practice of hostage diplomacy” and consider sanctions against the Chinese authorities.
‘Unrelated problems’
The proposed resolution comes at a particularly sensitive time for EU-China relations, as MEPs will be the last hurdle in ratifying the EU’s controversial investment deal with Beijing.
“Trade is important and there are benefits for European companies in this draft agreement, but we are parliamentarians, we have to have commercial policies based on values, respect for human rights, labor rights and respect for the individual,” Andrews said about the China-EU Comprehensive Investment Agreement (CAI) that was agreed in principle on December 30.
The opinion of MEPs is important, as they must approve the investment agreement, although the vote is not expected until the end of the year at the earliest.
The EU went ahead with the CAI deal despite concerns about China’s human rights record, including the mass incarceration of at least one million Uighurs and other Turkish-speaking Muslims, according to human rights groups. Both Canada and the United States have called Beijing’s treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang genocide.
Human Rights Watch says China has dramatically increased the prosecution of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang through the formal judicial system, imposing lengthy prison terms on charges such as “sparking disputes” and giving gifts to relatives abroad.
Last month, MEPs overwhelmingly passed a resolution widely condemning the crackdown on Hong Kong activists by China’s central government.
The resolution called for “targeted sanctions” against Chinese and Hong Kong officials responsible for the police action.
EU lawmakers said they “regret” the handling of the investment deal and said the talks on the deal should have been used “as a leverage tool aimed at preserving Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy as well as its rights and rights. basic freedoms “.
In response to the Hong Kong resolution, Beijing urged EU lawmakers to “face the reality that Hong Kong has returned to China.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at the time that the resolution showed that some MEPs had “confused good and evil” and engaged in “serious interference in China’s Hong Kong affairs. “. He said the EU Parliament should “stop any form of meddling.”
As part of a new trade strategy, the EU said it would establish mechanisms to ensure companies do not use forced labor, and the European Parliament expressed its desire that Beijing adhere to the International Labor Organization (ILO) ban on use of forced labor.
Andrews believes there is a “very slim chance” that China will tackle the broader problem of forced labor to the satisfaction of parliamentarians before the end of the year.
The agreement says that the Chinese will make sustained efforts to ratify ILO conventions on forced labor. I think the European Parliament would expect that to be stronger. We would expect to see not only the ratification of the conventions, but also their implementation. The Chinese have ratified many things that they have not actually implemented in the law.
He added: “We also have to recognize the limits of trade policy to achieve all these goals if we were to make sure we would not trade with anyone.”
Tara and Richard O’Halloran.
Source: Save Richard Now Twitter
In an interview with TheJournal.ieChinese Ambassador to Ireland He Xiangdong said MEPs should not take the CAI trade deal “hostage” for “unrelated issues”.
“First of all, I will say that such an accusation is wrong. Many of them are totally unfounded. And the second thing is that we needed to separate those two things, ”Ambassador He said.
“We cannot try to hold the agreement as a kind of hostage to unrelated issues… The benefits of this agreement are neutrally beneficial. It is good for China and it is good for the EU member states.
“Ultimately, it is up to them to make their own decision if they want to end a great deal for China and the EU, including Ireland.”
When asked about the O’Halloran case in the context of CAI and the future of Irish business in China, he said: “Exceptional individual cases do occur from time to time.
“There are thousands of Irish businessmen in China … They are in a better position than I am,” he said.
On China’s record on human rights and the treatment of Uighur Muslims, the Chinese embassy said “the allegations of genocide and forced labor are lies of the century.”
“If those who accuse China really want to know the real Xinjiang, they are welcome to visit the region, talk to the residents and see for themselves. That said, we are firmly against the so-called investigation based on the presumption of guilt ”.
President Michael D. Higgins received the letter of credit from the newly appointed Chinese Ambassador to Ireland, He Xiangdong, in 2019.
Source: Xinhua News Agency / PA Images
Fine Gael MEP Frances Fitzgerald said that following the January resolution on Hong Kong, parliament will carefully examine CAI’s trade deal, including its provision on labor rights.
“We want to live in a world where human rights are respected and we want to make trade deals,” Fitzgerald said.
“We also have to have them in the context of human and labor rights. And those are the points that we will be making as we go through this in parliament. “
Fitzgerald said that if there is no action by Chinese officials on labor and human rights issues before the vote to ratify the CAI agreement takes place, “it will be detrimental to China.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin wrote to his Chinese counterpart, Prime Minister Li Keqiang, asking him to review O’Halloran’s case on “compassionate grounds”.
“There has been regular constructive diplomatic contact between Ireland and China on the case,” said a government spokesman.
EU authorities first intervened in O’Halloran’s case when the chairman of the Chinese delegation to the European Parliament, Reinhard Bütikofer, wrote to the head of the Chinese mission to the EU, Ambassador Zhang Ming, expressing concern about O’Halloran’s arrest.
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The intervention followed a letter sent by Fitzgerald, a member of the delegation, to Bütikofer and Zhang, asking both of them to help solve the case.
Fitzgerald said the O’Halloran case has taken “too long” and the impact on his family is “completely unacceptable.”
“We are on a journey right now, I will not say anything to inflate it, but we will be watching very closely to see how this case progresses,” he said, adding that if O’Halloran was still detained in China when the CAI vote will take place. as a factor “in the decision-making of all Irish MEPs”.
Similarly, Andrews said O’Halloran’s release is “critical” for him and “not something he can frankly overlook.”
Andrews said he has gotten to know the O’Halloran family personally, after discussing the case with both Richard and his wife Tara on numerous occasions.
“It’s not just your case, there are other cases where China has prevented people from leaving the country against their will as part of investment disputes. It is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ”he said.
Like several other nations, the Department of Foreign Affairs has issued a travel advisory for Ireland on China, highlighting the risk of exit bans.
“They are linked to the resolution of the legal process in question and it is not always evident that you are subject to an exit ban until you try to leave the country,” the notice states.
On February 16, a Canadian-led statement against arbitrary detention in state-to-state relations, signed by 58 foreign ministers, was released.
“This illegal and immoral practice puts citizens of all countries at risk and undermines the rule of law,” said Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau.
The statement did not single out any country by name, but Canada has frequently drawn attention to the case of two Canadians who it says are being held in “arbitrary detention” in China.
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