China’s Propaganda King Influences Irish Media During State Visit

n the last 60 years that the CCP has been controlling China, political campaign after political campaign has led to the slaughter of more than 80 million innocent Chinese people, and the state-controlled propaganda machine has been at the core of each campaign.

Mao Zedong summarised the nature of the Cultural Revolution: "…after the chaos the world reaches peace, but in seven or eight years, the chaos needs to happen again." Although China has dramatically changed since the seventies, the pattern of the CCP's political campaigns remains the same. In the fifties there was the Hundred Flowers campaign, the Anti-Rightist Movement, and the Great Leap Forward; the sixties and seventies had the Cultural Revolution; in the eighties was the Anti-Bourgeois Liberalization campaign and the eventual massacre in Tiananmen Square, and from the late nineties to the present the persecution of Falun Gong has been waged unchecked.

There were many more, smaller campaigns in between, but the sad fact of all of these tragedies is that the Chinese people are still in the dark as to what really happened, having been fed lies by the states’ propaganda machine.

Mr Li Changchun's trip to Ireland was an opportunity to challenge him on his record, much of which is public and undeniable. It was an opportunity to try to improve the human rights situation for the people of China. Instead it was a complete failure for improving the rights of Chinese people, while proving a complete success for the Chinese Communist Party and an endorsement of its policies and approach.

Following his meeting with Li Changchun, a statement from the Taoiseach read, “The Taoiseach referred to the substantial increase in bilateral trade between Ireland and China over the past ten years and said that Ireland's relationship with China was at the heart of our new Strategy for Trade, Tourism and Investment.”

He added, "In the light of my discussions with Mr Li, I am convinced that there are major opportunities to increase trade and investment between Ireland and China. Mr Li made clear to me that Ireland's brand and reputation are very strong in China."

However, in reality, China's PR man won the battle of the brands, as it was “Brand CCP” that has managed to further improve its appeal since the last visit of a high-ranking Chinese official to Ireland. The real losers following this state visit are the Chinese citizens who are denied their basic human rights on a daily basis under a brutal, and unelected, regime.