Concerns Raised Over Minister's Meeting With Chinese Ambassador

The Alliance Party have raised concerns over a meeting by the First and deputy First Ministers with the UK;s Chinese ambassador, Zheng Zeguang.

Alliance has called for the minutes of the meeting, which occurred in May, to be published, citing concerns that human rights abuses may not have been raised.

South Belfast MLA Paula Bradshaw, who chairs the Committee for the Executive Office at Stormont, stated: "The Alliance Party has been consistent in its publicly stated view that if Northern Ireland is to maintain links with China, it must be on the fundamental basis that we continue to raise human rights issues as an aspect of these relations.

“Without the disclosure of the minutes from this meeting, we would be concerned that human rights were not raised.

"There are also questions for the First Minister and deputy First Minister in their role overseeing reform of the Civil Service, given that meetings without minutes were supposed to be long confined to the past.

"This whole affair also reinforces the urgent needs for an entirely new International Relations Strategy, which would state clearly to the public what the purpose and objective of Stormont's international relations work actually is.

"International Relations are supposed to be not just about economic links, but also sharing learning and promoting democracy. Key aspects of this are transparency and accountability, and so we would call on the First and deputy First Minister to clarify what was discussed with the Chinese ambassador and release these minutes into the public domain."