On November 11, 2025, President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to Catherine Connolly on her assumption of office as President of Ireland.

Xi Jinping pointed out that over the past 46 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China and Ireland have jointly achieved remarkable development progress through mutual learning and friendly cooperation. In recent years, the two countries have seen close exchanges at various levels and yielded fruitful results in practical cooperation. Xi Jinping said that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Ireland relations and stands ready to work with President Catherine Connolly to enhance political mutual trust, carry forward the traditional friendship, jointly support multilateralism and free trade, and promote the continuous development of the China-Ireland strategic partnership for mutually beneficial cooperation to better benefit the two peoples.