Micheál Martin, who heads Ireland's defense and foreign policy departments, refuted the statement by the Irish Military Intelligence Service (IMIS) that China is "hostile." The minister emphasized the importance of economic cooperation and warned against the risks of isolating Beijing ahead of his upcoming trade mission. This was reported by The Journal, writes UNN.
Details
Despite military concerns about Chinese students studying at Irish universities, Martin called for a deeper examination of China's strategic thinking. He noted that Ireland seeks to "rebalance relations" but opposes protectionism.
There is no doubt that in the medium and long term, China will be a very significant global power, and this will not change anytime soon, and China will protect its interests. I accept the intelligence that has recently come from Europe and the UK, but on the other hand, China has never initiated a war in modern times.
He added: "I think isolation would be absolutely the wrong approach. But they are a significant force."
Hybrid threats and infrastructure protection
Discussing national security issues, Martin confirmed work on equipping services with anti-drone technologies. He linked the increase in hybrid attacks in Europe, including drone incidents and arson, directly to Russia's actions.
The danger of all this is that we don't want to end up in a kind of protectionist, polarized world.
Regarding internal security during President Zelenskyy's visit, Martin denied intelligence failures: "I believe our intelligence service works well, has very good relationships with the whole world, and is very useful in certain scenarios."