Campaigners have published an open letter to Nottingham City Council as they continue to demand that its relationship with a city in China comes to an end. Nottingham has had an official relationship with the Chinese city of Ningbo since 2004, when the University of Nottingham opened a 14-acre campus there.
But campaigners from the Nottingham Stands with Hong Kong group have been calling for this partnership to end. Protesters took to the Old Market Square last year and described an "ongoing oppression and persecution" of people in Hong Kong.
A petition was then handed to Nottingham City Council on June 12 last year, with the authority's leader David Mellen responding to it at a meeting last month. The full council meeting was attended by several members of Nottingham Stands with Hong Kong, who had also been demonstrating outside the Council House before it took place.
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Councillor Mellen said the council was reviewing the nature of "all its current twinning and international arrangements", including the one with Ningbo. Ningbo is one of China's oldest cities, located on the country's east coast around two hours south of Shanghai.
Despite acknowledging the petition and outlining the nature of the review, an open letter to the council has now been published by the Nottingham Stands with Hong Kong group. The letter, sent on January 9, calls for a more "open discussion" on the future of Nottingham's partnership with Ningbo.
The letter reads: "We urge the council to consider the moral justification of human rights over economic concerns and terminate its ties with China. And we request the council leader to have an open discussion with us through a public inquiry."
Nottingham's other visible links with Ningbo include the Ningbo Friendship Bridge, which was officially named as such in 2016. But the open letter adds: "We recognise that twinning has a significant influence on both economic and cultural development.
"But the partnership should be based on the grounding principle of upholding human rights and democratic values that our city safeguards." A Nottingham City City Council spokesperson confirmed there was no update on the review at this time.
Opposition to China has increased since the passing of a hugely controversial national security law in Hong Kong in 2020, which gave Beijing more powers in the latter country than ever before. The law means that some criminal cases originating from Hong Kong can be tried in mainland China, with crimes including the damaging of public transport being considered terrorism.
Cllr David Mellen said at last month's meeting: "Nottingham is a place that embraces and celebrates diversity and inclusion. We also know that as civic leaders in Nottingham, we must ensure that any current or future international relationships are with those places who uphold the same principles and that there are tangible benefits for the city and its residents."
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