ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE AT THE CHINA EUROPE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SCHOOL
EUROPE AND CHINA IN THE 21ST CENTURY – AN IRISH PERSPECTIVE
Dajio hao. Hello everyone.
In just a few weeks time, on January 1st, Ireland will assume the Presidency of the European Union for the sixth time in thirty years and will oversee and guide the business of the Union until the end of June 2004. Our Presidency comes at a historic and critical moment in the development of the Union. On 1st May the EU will undertake the biggest enlargement in its history when we welcome ten new countries to join us, making the Union of fifteen, a Union of twenty-five. In Dublin, our capital city, there will be a special celebration on that day to mark this moment which will be attended by all the leaders of Europe.
Enlargement will increase the land area of the Union by 34% and its population by 105 million, creating a market of about 400 million consumers and an economy roughly the same size as that of the United States. More importantly, this enlargement marks the most profound historical transformation in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall and is tangible evidence of the healing of a divided Europe. It represents the realisation of the dream of the founders of the Union of a peaceful, united and prosperous Europe.
A Union of 15 member-States already faces great institutional and organisational challenges. It is clear that existing structures and procedures are no longer adequate. With a Union of 25 they are simply unworkable. For this reason the EU is seeking to agree a new constitutional treaty to simplify and improve the way we make decisions and conduct our business. It may be that the finalising of the new arrangements will fall within our Presidency and this will be a major priority for the Government.
Ireland’s presidency comes at a moment of great change in Europe’s affairs. In China too it is a period of transformation. The economic reform policies that China has successfully pursued for over twenty years have seen it engage more closely with the world economy, leading to its historic accession to the WTO. China is rapidly emerging as a major player in the world economy. It is now the EU’s third largest trading partner and the EU is a major investor in China. Europe has a real stake in supporting China’s continuing reform process and engagement with the rest of the world. We see China’s success as of benefit to the world.
I am conscious that some of you might not know very much about Ireland. We are, after all, a very small country compared to China and a very distant one. But we are not as far from China as some might think. I would like to describe to you a country who’s history dates back five thousand years and is proud of a unique culture and heritage; a country which for hundreds of years experienced foreign rule which it challenged in the early 20th century; a country which experienced a bitter civil war and became independent but with its national territory divided. After a period of economic stagnation, the country I am describing opened up its economy to international competition and actively encouraged foreign investment. By the end of the 20th century it had become one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Some may assume I am describing China; in fact, I am describing Ireland.
I accept that this analogy is far from perfect given the huge disparities in size and population, and our completely different historical experience. I would like to think that, at least, it helps Irish people understand what China has achieved over the past hundred years and allows us to share our experience of the transformation from an essentially agricultural country to a high technology, knowledge-based economy.
One of the key differences in Ireland’s case has been our experience of being a member-State of the European Union since 1973. At the time of joining, Ireland was one of the poorest countries in western Europe, our domestic economy was highly protected and inefficient. Joining the European Community – as it was then – had a number of effects, most positive but some negative. On the one hand, the Community’s agricultural policies boosted farm incomes and raised living standards for many. Membership also meant access to a much wider market and helped us to diversify our exports. On the other hand, greater competition wiped out many of our traditional industries and led to a serious unemployment problem. We know only too well the challenges China faces as it opens its economy to international competition and reforms its State-owned industries.
We have, dating back to the 1960’s, begun to encourage foreign manufacturing firms to set up in Ireland. In the 1970’s and 1980’s we refined this policy to target specific sectors, particularly in the technology field. We had some obvious advantages: we were English-speaking, we had a highly educated work force and our labour costs were comparatively low.
As a people we also had a deep belief in the value of education - something we have in common with China. From the 1960’s we began to invest heavily in education and this has been one of the key factors in our economic success story.
With the completion of the European Single Market, which gave Ireland access to a huge market, the benefits of our strategy began to show. We became a leading hardware producer and the largest exporter of software in the world. Just as is happening here in Shanghai, clusters of specialised indigenous companies grew up around the large multinational companies.
This process was helped not only by access to the Single Market but also by our EU partners who gave us valuable financial support – commonly known as structural funds - to upgrade our infrastructure and to invest in improving the skills and training of our workforce.
The results are there for everyone to see. In the 1990’s Ireland had rates of growth of about 8 per cent a year. We moved from being one of the poorer member-States to being one of the richer, unemployment dropped from 20 percent to 4 per cent and for the first time in one hundred and fifty years we stemmed the tide of outward migration becoming for the first time, a country of net inward migration. Ireland is a shining example of the benefits of membership of the Union.
It is for this reason we welcome the enlargement of the Union under our Presidency. The ten countries that will join us on 1st May next year have economies which are below the EU average in terms of income. We know that EU membership can help them grow and develop. Greater prosperity for them means greater prosperity for all. Every time the Union has expanded it has attracted more foreign direct investment across the whole Union. New markets will be opened, fresh commercial links will be forged and barriers to trade will be removed.
Of course, the new members will compete with Ireland for investment. These are countries which also have well-educated workforces and which have lower costs than we do. Our view, however, is that competition is not only unavoidable, it is in any case good for us. It keeps our focus on competitiveness and efficiency and in the long run is likely to boost growth rather than constrain it. It encourages innovation and forces us to switch to higher-value activities, moving up the value chain and the skill chain.
It is because of this that the Irish Government has also identified as one of its Presidency priorities the process of transforming the Union into a leading knowledge-based economy. Three years ago in Lisbon, Portugal, the Union set itself the objective of becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. We believe it is time to review and to advance our progress in achieving this objective. This will be one of the pillars of Europe’s prosperity in the 21st century.
Another pillar of European prosperity will be an open, rule-based, global trading system – critical too for China’s future growth and prosperity. We could and should work together to achieve this.
Although Europe is somewhat preoccupied with its institutional reform and with how it copes with its expansion, it is not indifferent to what is going on outside its borders. In fact, one of the questions being addressed is how the Union speaks coherently to the rest of the world.
Both China and Europe then are experiencing great changes and they both face a world which poses many opportunities and many challenges. Both can work together to seize those opportunities, for example, in promoting better trade and economic relations which bring real benefits to everyone. They can also work together to meet the challenges which humanity faces: problems of development and hunger, threats to peace through weapons of mass destruction and through terrorism, climate change and the protection of the environment, the creation of sustainable growth.
For nearly a decade China and the EU have entered into a dialogue to try to address some of our common concerns and also to discuss our differences, most notably in the field of human rights. This dialogue has deepened and broadened and it surely marks a maturing relationship when we can discuss candidly and constructively issues not only of mutual interest but also of disagreement. In Europe we see a China increasingly engaging in the international community, acting to promote peace and stability in its region and beyond, and we welcome this.
So at the start of the 21st century we see a European Union expanding and trying to streamline its decision-making procedures. It is a time of economic uncertainty for many member-States and the full effects of the adoption of the euro on trade and investment are still to be seen. China too faces many uncertainties and challenges, on the one hand successfully integrating with the world economy and becoming an increasingly important player in the region and on a global level and, on the other, grappling with very tough issues of reform and uneven development. That both the EU and China succeed in what they are trying to do is of concern and importance to the whole world. Similarly both the EU and China are faced with common problems and it is in their clear and ever-greater interest to work together as strategic partners on the international scene to safeguard and promote development, peace and stability.
I also believe that the relationship between China and Europe will blossom in other ways. A relationship which is based purely on economic interests will always be a shallow one and an ultimately unsatisfying one. China and Europe each have vast reservoirs of culture and lived experience which cannot be valued in monetary terms and which in the sharing, have the capacity to greatly enrich our lives and promote a more harmonious world family of nations. These unique heritages and cultures of great antiquity and diversity have much to teach each other and much to learn from each other. Closer interaction and exchange shortens the distance between those two worlds. The more contact the better the relationship. Already in my country there are many young Chinese people studying in the land of Joyce and Yeats, of George Bernard Shaw and Beckett. They are helping us to understand China better and when they return home they are unofficial ambassadors for Ireland.
You will come across the occasional young Irish man or woman here in China and I would welcome more young Irish people coming here to learn about Chinese life and culture for it is in, and through, these human networks of friendship and mutual curiosity that we get to know each other best. The young people of today’s China and today’s Ireland belong to a very fortunate and blessed generation. The globe is easily travelled, communications technology gently transcends geographic and cultural boundaries and they are at the beginning of a new story for Ireland and a new story for China. They have the chance to write the script which binds the fortunes of a small island many thousands of miles away to a huge and diverse country. Both have an ambition to make the future the most peaceful and prosperous, the most socially inclusive, in fact the best any generation has known. To do that, they will need good and trusted friends and partners throughout the globe. I hope this visit will greatly advance the growing links of culture and commerce between Ireland and China and that it will help bring closer the future we all dare to dream of and know we have to work for if the 21st century is to be a century all of humankind can look back on with pride.
Feichang Ganxie. Thank you very much.