The U.S. State Department has recently decided to cut all funds for the George J. Mitchell Scholarship program for fiscal year 2013. Born out of the peace process in Northern Ireland in which former Sen. George Mitchell played a pivotal role, the Mitchell program at its inception was intended to strengthen and modernize the relationship between the island of Ireland and the United States.

These were the words of China’s highest ranking female politician on the second day of her trip. Madam Liu Yandong, the most powerful woman in the country’s ruling Communist Party, said she “especially” selected Northern Ireland as the first stop on her European tour. She was speaking as she opened the new Confucius Institute at the University of Ulster..