While Russia has ruptured world peace and made its ambition clear, who is its accomplice? We, residents of Nottingham, are expressing our deep concern on the close relationship between Nottingham and Ningbo, Nottingham’s sister city in China.
Most western countries, including the UK, have been helping Ukraine against Russia’s aggression and taken a strong stand against totalitarianism. Meanwhile, China has obviously maintained a stance of pro-Russian pseudo-neutrality in various ways. Back in September 2013, China signed a Sino-declaration with Ukraine, guaranteeing that China will protect Ukraine under threat of nuclear attack, but it is clearly a broken promise. In March 2022, only Chinese and Russian judges voted against the United Nations’ International Court of Justice’s order that Russia halts its invasion of Ukraine. In April 2022, China voted to keep Russia as a part of the United Nations Human Rights Council. China has also been financially supporting Russia, including purchasing a large amount of Russian coal and oil in Chinese currency, despite European Union economic sanction.
From the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 and the Uyghur genocide since 2014, to the 2019 Hong Kong democratic movement, the whole world has witnessed that the totalitarian regime of China has been depriving its people of freedom and democracy. China’s stance towards Russia’s invasion aggravated the condition of Ukraine as it refused to label Russia’s act as an invasion and condemn it, but criticised western sanctions severely instead. Thus, based on all rationalities, we further call on Nottingham City Council to decouple from the Chinese city Ningbo to truly preserve the core value of Nottingham and stand against the evil force at all cost, just as they did previously to sever the sister city partnerships between Nottingham and Krasnodar in Russia and the Belarusian capital Minsk in March 2022.
We strongly urge everyone who shares the same values to sign this petition, sever the risky ties for Nottingham and be in solidarity with those who are suffering.
Started by: Miss Ken Wong
On reaching 1 signatures the head of the relevant department will be made aware of the matter.
This Paper petition ran from 13/06/2022 to 01/08/2022 and has now finished.
1407 people signed this Paper petition.
Thank you for the submission of your Petition regarding Nottingham’s relationship with Ningbo, in China. My colleagues, Councillor Adele Williams and Councillor Neghat Khan, were both pleased to receive your Petition on Sunday 12 June 2022.
The Council has committed to reviewing the nature of all of its current formal relationships and twinning links, including its arrangement with Ningbo. Once this review is concluded, I will write to you again personally to outline the Council’s position in relation to Ningbo, and to all of its other arrangements with its twin cities.
Finally, I would like to thank you for your efforts in coordinating this Petition - we are always keen to listen to the views of our constituents, particularly where there is a significant sense of public support for an issue, and we welcome the opportunity to discuss these matters in due course.
Yours Sincerely,
David Mellen
Leader of the Council