Tuesday, 9am: Structured discussions begin. The day is divided by topics and each segment has a number of keynote speakers followed by ‘free discussions’. I make a statement in the morning segment – see previous post – on education. This is prompted by introductory text in the Chinese plan and the importance they assign to it. My comments get a bit of coverage on state television. But we don’t actually get in to more depth on this issue until the afternoon. And it’s not really that deep.

1pm: Afternoon continues on from the morning. Areas covered: smart growth; sustainable development; inclusive growth.

I speak on the sides of these discussions with other European delegates, some former Ministers. There is a feeling that other areas should be covered in the forum (e.g. security) and that we’re not covering some areas in enough depth (e.g. intellectual property rights). I manage to have a one-on-one with a senior member of the international office devoted to IP issues. Good contact. We agree to continue discussions over email.

6pm: We leave by high speed train for Tianjin. The train station is the size of Dublin airport. More motorcades etc and the station is actually closed down temporarily for our departure. We travel at 338 km per hour and are there in 27 minutes (there’s a ‘busy at maths’ question for you). Countryside is just a vast expanse of agricultural land with the odd cluster of skyscrapers shooting out of nowhere.

7pm: Meeting with Zhang Gaoli, Member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of CPC Tianjin Municipal Committee. Aka, the top dog. This is similar to our meeting with the Vice President the previous day, only a lot shorter.

We are then hosted for dinner and it’s another epic affair with about 13 courses. Another ‘interesting’ meal too, sea slugs et al. There is again a traditional Chinese music group to entertain, only this time they perform some well-know western classical pieces. Tianjin has that vibe to it. This is not Beijing.

Every few minutes our hosts at the table toast our presence, which require taking a half shot of some type of Chinese vodka. It’s not strong, but it’s not very nice either. I’m at risk of offending my hosts after about 30 minutes.

9pm: Tour of Tianjin by boat. Spectacular. Tianjin is one of China’s special economic areas and the western influence is very obvious. The architecture, 24 hour KFC, the hotel staff with English names. The city is lit superbly at night and the tour really is quite something. There’s a bit more engagement on the European side too as we relax after a long day.

10pm: Return to hotel where I manage to get a good hour’s work in with team back in Dublin. Wind down with a beer with two European colleagues in the hotel bar. We discuss China and the different approaches to it on the European side – nationally and in the European parliament. I go to bed with social questions like one-child policy and abortion ringing in my head.

Tomorrow is the business side of things which could be very interesting.