Call on Leeds City Council to terminate sister city relationship with Hangzhou, China

As Hongkongers living in Leeds, we want to express our grave concern over Leeds City Council’s sister city relationship with Hangzhou and call on the Council to terminate its sister city agreement with China.

In 2019, the world witnessed the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy by the Chinese government from human rights abuses, violent trampling of Hong Kong’s press freedom and repression of democratic voices. The democracy, freedom of expression, and rule of law as promised under the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ framework within the Sino-British Joint Declaration were stripped away as the Chinese government implemented the National Security Law in 2020, bypassing Hong Kong's own legislative system.

The breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a legal-binding international treaty, is not China’s first time breaching an international agreement. China’s pro-Russia stance on the Russo-Ukrainian War also shows its inconsistency with legally binding agreements in which China made a deal with Ukraine back in 2013 promising to protect Ukraine from the threat of nuclear attack. These cases reflect how the Chinese government never keeps its promise.

Apart from China’s untrustworthiness, its notorious human rights abuse records also reveal the totalitarian nature of this regime. China has been committing genocide in Xinjiang (East Turkestan) by sending Uyghurs and Muslims to arbitrary mass detention camps since 2014. Recently, leaked files exposed the inhumane situation in those camps like the ‘shoot to kill’ policy, torturing, sexual abuse and more.

The world should not turn a blind eye and kowtow to China’s totalitarianism when there is countless evidence exposing the crimes the Chinese Communist Party has committed since its reign.

Leeds City Council said in a statement to Hongkongers in Britain, "The council is committed to working with the Hong Kong community to create a safe and welcoming environment for people of all nationalities living, working and studying in our city." The fact that Leeds City Council continue to twin with Hangzhou severely undermines this.

We call on everyone who stands up for human rights to sign this petition and urge Leeds City Council to decouple from the Chinese city, Hangzhou.