At the first meeting of the new Dublin City Council, I tabled a question to the city manager in relation to the proposed twinning of Dublin with Beijing, which was first mooted last year.
When the invitation came from the Chinese capital, many of the councillors felt that it would be inappropriate on human rights grounds for us to go down this road. They were right to feel this way.
According to the city manager, Beijing’s proposal is still under ‘active consideration’. So it is important now that we make sure that this process does not go ahead.
Twinning between two cities is an expression of strong solidarity that goes over and above the normal trade and commercial relations. Because of this, any such bond between Dublin and Beijing would be tantamount to us sanctioning the actions of China’s present day regime.
International organisations such as Human Rights Watch have continuously criticised the Beijing administration’s track record on the upholding of fundamental human rights.
An incredible 77 per cent of all executions worldwide are carried out in China. Hundreds of Tibetans have been incarcerated for peacefully expressing their religious beliefs. There are numerous accounts of torture and ill treatment across all sections of society.
Irish people and the opposition parties should not allow the Irish Government, when interacting with China, to continue the current practice of keeping silent on human rights abuses or “raising the issue in private”. The Irish people have always stood for democracy and human rights, and this campaign is an expression of solidarity with the Chinese people, but not with the Beijing administration
There is a myth that ‘twinning’ is a positive way to bring about social change and human rights improvements in countries with poor records, but this is not the case. Shanghai’s twinning with Cork in 2005 proved a false hope the following year when reports broke that many hospitals across China were systematically harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.
The last time this proposal was before the city council in Dublin, the first shots were fired into Tibet just weeks later.
Dublin City Council – comprising the elected representatives of the capital city– is an important political forum, and those that we honour with twinning or with freeman awards have to be above political reproach. As such, the proposed pact with Beijing is a bad move for Dublin, and one that mustn’t be allowed to take place.
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin is a primary school principal in the Sheriff Street area of Dublin, and Labour councillor for Dublin’s Clontarf ward. His column appears every week in Metro Éireann
