I express my solidarity and that of International Socialist Alternative with the young protestors in China. In the face of police repression, thousands of young people are protesting against the dictatorship of Xi Jinping by holding up blank A4 sheets of paper, as I am now doing. They are demanding freedom of speech, an end to a rigid and extreme Covid policy and democratic rights. China's capitalist dictatorship is facing its most serious challenge in more than 30 years. One of the groups that is trying to co-ordinate international solidarity, Chinaworker.info, reports that the revolt began with a workers' protest at the world's largest iPhone factory. I agree with the group's argument that a general strike of workers and students would be the most powerful weapon available in the context of protest. Here in the West, capitalist governments have been keen to fight a new cold war. Socialists stand for a class war against the capitalists, east and west. Will the Taoiseach voice support for the Chinese protests and for the solidarity protests planned at embassies internationally?

I do not believe in a war at all. The Deputy used a very interesting term, "class war". That would not be my vision for this country or for Europe. We consistently raise with the Chinese Government the need for human rights to be affirmed and for the citizens of China to have access to the same human rights as people in the West. Those rights were nurtured and developed by the liberal democracies of the West. We particularly call for people to be allowed to protest peacefully and to articulate their viewpoints without those perspectives being suppressed.