September 6, 2001

Sir, - Trinity College Students Union was pleased to read of the Taoiseach's intervention in the case of Zhao Ming, a Trinity postgraduate student who has been detained without trial in a Chinese labour camp since May 2000.

We are glad that the Government used the opportunity of Premier Zhu Rongji's s visit to raise Ming's case and discuss Irish concerns about human rights violations in China. We hope Mr Zhu will keep his promise to enquire about Ming's case upon his return to China and that China's human rights record will remain at the top of the agenda in future dealings between the Irish and Chinese governments.

All of us in Trinity eagerly await the day when Ming will be permitted to return to Dublin to complete his studies in the computer science department here. - Yours, etc.,

AVERIL POWER, President, Trinity College Students' Union, Dublin 2.

Sir, - I was stunned to silence, on watching RT 's six o' clock news on Tuesday, by the report on the Chinese Premier's visit to Kerry. At an event hosted by Enterprise Ireland, Mr Zhu criticised the Irish media for giving the wrong impression of China. He said that all he had read about was media reports about Falun Gong, human rights and Tibet and added "nothing more!" At this last comment he laughed and the audience at the event laughed along with him! I understand that economic links with China could benefit Ireland, but at what price? Are we happy to laugh in the face of intense human suffering and degradation and pay homage to the Chinese Premier in order to enlarge our coffers? - Yours, etc.,

A NE MULROY, Tuam Road, Galway.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/letters/2001/0906/index.htm#4