Dr Alexander Dukalskis is an Associate Professor in UCD’s School of Politics and International Relations (SPIRe).

The PSAI International Relations and Area Studies Specialist Group recently helped support a conference on Ireland-China relations. The event, held on May 23^rd, was a collaboration between the UCD Centre for Asia-Pacific Research and the University of Notre Dame’s Clingen Family Center for the Study of Modern Ireland. 

The event featured a keynote talk by Demetri Sevastopulo, the US-China correspondent for the Financial Times and himself a native of Ireland. In it he discussed the dynamics of US-China relations and Ireland’s choices, constraints, and strategies within the context created by the rivalry.   

The keynote was followed by four panel discussions that took on various aspects the topic: Ireland-China bilateral relations, Europe-China relations, Ireland-China in the Transatlantic relationship, and comparative perspectives of other small states dealing with a newly assertive China: Latvia, Czechia, Slovakia, the UAE, and Finland. The speakers were a mix of academics, journalists, and think tank analysts and were drawn from institutions in Ireland, the US, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. 

The panels were in a discussion format followed by Q&A, which meant that a variety of themes emerged. These included Ireland’s relatively thin academic, think tank, and civil society expertise when it comes to Chinese politics and foreign policy. Combined with China’s intentional opacity when it comes to its political system, this puts Ireland at a disadvantage when it comes to managing relations with a new superpower. In the national security and higher education realm, discussion at the conference was reported in the Irish Times.

Likewise the economic dimensions of the relationship were a central topic of discussion that received media coverage. Issues like microchips, investment screening, the business of higher education, and agriculture all present challenges when it comes to China’s politics and the securitization of more economic domains amidst US-China competition.

As Ireland is committed to human rights as a part of its foreign policy accelerating an economic relationship with China will be difficult, and so again speakers underscored the need to augment Ireland’s independent expertise when it comes to Chinese politics and foreign policy. This is particularly the case given that colleagues from other small states emphasized the surprising level of agency that states have when dealing with China. 

Speakers and panellists at the conference included:

• Alexander Dukalskis, UCD
• Joshua Eisenman, University of Notre Dame
• Julia Bader, University of Amsterdam
• Finbarr Bermingham, South China Morning Post 
• Una Berzina-Cerenkova, Riga Stradins University
• Julie Chen, University of Helsinki
• Alexander Davey, Mercator Institute for China Studies
• Theresa Fallon, Centre for Russia, Europe and Asia Studies
• Gerlinde Groitl, University of Regensburg
• Victoria Hui, University of Notre Dame 
• Isabella Jackson, Trinity College Dublin
• Yvonne Murray, RTÉ
• Demetri Sevastopulo, Financial Times
• David Shullman, Atlantic Council
• Li-Chen Sim, Khalifa University, UAE
• Andrew Cottey, University College Cork
• Velina Tchakarova, FACE (For A Conscious Experience)
• Ben Tonra, UCD
• Steve Tsang, SOAS, University of London
• Richard Turcsanyi, Palacky University Olomouc