british prime minister visits ireland for the first time in 5 years, and relations between the two countries are "restarted"!
2024-09-09
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on the 7th local time, british prime minister starmer visited the irish capital dublin. this is the first visit to ireland by a british prime minister in five years.
irish prime minister simon harris met with visiting british prime minister starmer on the same day. this was the second meeting between the two in less than two months.
after the british labour party won the general election in early july this year, harris was the first foreign leader starmer received in the uk after he became prime minister.
during the meeting, starmer said that the restart of anglo-irish relations could be meaningful and in-depth, and it must cover the northern ireland peace agreement, also known as the belfast agreement reached in 1998. he attached great importance to the joint role of the two governments in this regard.
it is worth noting that in february last year, the uk and the eu signed the "windsor framework" agreement aimed at resolving trade disputes in northern ireland after brexit, but there are still many unresolved differences surrounding the border issue between ireland and the northern ireland region of the uk.
screenshot of reuters report
liu mingli, researcher at the china institutes of contemporary international relationsin an interview with the cctv global information radio reporter, it was analyzed that the uk and ireland reaffirmed the belfast agreement without mentioning the controversial "windsor framework" agreement, which means that both sides are willing to develop bilateral relations in a more stable direction.
the belfast agreement was signed in 1998, which ended the 30-year bloody conflict between ireland and northern ireland. during the visit of the new british prime minister to ireland, both sides emphasized the agreement instead of the "windsor framework" agreement signed during the brexit process. based on this, we may have observed a new sign that bilateral relations may be developing in the direction after the signing of the belfast agreement.
after the signing of the belfast agreement, the united kingdom, ireland and northern ireland had a very high degree of recognition of the agreement, and the signing of the agreement also brought long-awaited peace and stability to ireland. however, during the signing of the windsor framework agreement, many differences and contradictions arose around the issue of brexit and the border issue between ireland and northern ireland.
therefore, the emphasis of the belfast agreement by the uk and ireland this time means that both sides are more actively promoting the development of bilateral relations in a more stable and positive direction.
screenshot of a report from british sky news
according to foreign media reports, starmer's visit to ireland was described by downing street as a "historic moment in british-irish relations", marking a further warming of relations between the two countries that had experienced friction during the previous conservative government.
liu mingli further analyzed and pointed out that the relationship between the uk and ireland faces new development opportunities.
from the perspective of the uk, after the labour government came to power, it can get rid of the burden of brexit to a certain extent. this is because everything from the brexit referendum to the brexit negotiations to the signing of the brexit agreement was completed during the conservative party’s administration, and some of the negative issues brought about by brexit are relatively light for the current labour government.
·it has been eight years since the uk held the brexit referendum, and the uk economy is now in a downturn. in particular, the eu, as the uk's largest trading partner, has encountered obstacles in its trade arrangements with the uk. after the labour government comes to power, it may revise some important decisions of the conservative government and be more active in developing relations with the eu.
from the perspective of ireland, although the two sides signed a new framework agreement after brexit, there is a de facto border between ireland and northern ireland, which creates new obstacles to trade and is not conducive to the development of ireland. therefore, ireland hopes to ease relations with the uk, and also hopes that the relationship between the uk and the eu will ease.
source: global information radio "live world"
reporter: yang zhuoying and kang xindong
editor: lin wei and wang hongling
review丨hou chen and cai yaoyuan
