TDs increasingly regard China as an “international security issue” amid complaints about the bullying and intimidation of Irish residents, a journalist has said.

The Chinese State has long taken a different attitude to free speech to Ireland’s and individuals who criticise Beijing can face harsh consequences. 

On The Pat Kenny Show, Irish Times journalist Colm Keena told the story of Nuria Zyden - a woman from China’s Uyghur minority. 

“She came to Ireland in 2009, is a naturalised Irish citizen, has three Irish born children living here,” he said. 

“She gets phone calls from the police in Xinjiang because they’re not happy with her Uyghur activities here on behalf of the Uyghur community.” 

Xi Jingping. Picture by: Alamy.com/Li Xueren/Xinhua.

Mr Keena added that attempts to intimate people of Chinese origin by Beijing have not gone unnoticed in the Oireachtas. 

“I was talking to two Irish politicians who are part of this Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China,” he said. 

“They say it’s a national security issue for Ireland.” 

Nor is Ms Zyden the only person born in Irish resident to face, what Mr Keena describes as,  China’s“persuasion tactics”. 

“[They would] ring people and [tell them], ‘I want you to come back to China to face charges,’” he said. 

“Then, if you weren’t inclined to do that, then something bad might happen to family members back in China.” 

Impact

A report by a human rights group Safeguard Defenders concluded that sometimes such tactics work, with at least one Chinese person returning from Ireland to China to face charges. 

“They published a new report last year, the same NGO, and they looked at the history of this activity,” Mr Keena said. 

“One of the reports that was in it is a news report from China about a fella in Ireland from Fujian living in Dublin who was wanted by police back in Fujian. 

“He got 19 telephone calls from police in Fujian saying, ‘We’ve been visiting your family.’ 

“He eventually agreed to return to China to face charges and it was all sub-diplomatic, not done through Interpol or anything like that.

“It was reported in Chinese media because, I suppose, the Chinese authorities want people to know this is happening.” 

A sizable number of Ireland’s Chinese diaspora come from Fujian province and the local police force has even set up a centre on Dublin’s Capel Street to keep an eye on them. 

“It was created in, I suppose you could say, in a sub-diplomatic kind of way,” Mr Keena said. 

“It just popped up and it wasn’t done through the Embassy; it was an upstairs room in Capel Street. 

“It was an Embassy of a city in Fujian [province] - so, it wasn’t a national police station. It was the station of a police force. 

“There’s a lot of Chinese people who are from Fujian.” 

The Chinese Embassy has been contacted for comment.

Main image: A Chinese flag and Leinster House. Pictures by: Alamy.com