As the Olympics get under way this week, Claire Fox praises UK local authorities for extending the hand of friendship to their Chinese counterparts compared with the demonisation of China by the Western media
A problem which local government must always face up to is how to avoid being too parochial.
One solution is international twinning schemes. Forging links with China has become particularly fashionable of late, whether it’s Cardiff’s twinning with Xiamen, Tameside MBC with Bengbu Municipal People’s Government, or Essex CC’s close links with Jiangsu.
These connections are said to improve inter-cultural understanding, and they can certainly mean greater empathy between countries, thousands of miles apart.
Deputy head teacher, Susan Davies, whose Swansea school has links with Nantong, explains: ‘The world is a small place, and we should get to know it better.’
It was inspiring the way Leicestershire CC, twinned with the Sichuan region, responded to the tragic earthquake earlier this year. Council leader, David Parsons, was in regular contact with the governor of the province during the crisis.
This genuine friendship stands in stark contrast to some of the more shrill Western attitudes to China over recent months. Everyone, from Hollywood stars, to former ministers and Amnesty International, has joined in slating China for media censorship, funding ‘Khartoum’s genocide’, oppressing Tibetans, etc, etc. As the Beijing Olympics start, intemperate anti-China posturing has intensified.
The often-hysterical condemnations have led some commentators, such as journalist Brendan O’Neill, to note that ‘China-bashing is the new Olympic sport’. In this climate, anyone who extends a hand of friendship to China risks being branded an apologist for human rights abuses.
I am no friend of the Chinese Communist Party, and as someone who regularly argues against any restrictions on free speech and civil liberties, no doubt, I would fare badly under a regime which jails dissident bloggers.
However, before we indulge in smug ‘better than thou-ism’, we might consider whether the West itself is such a beacon of freedom. It must be galling for the Chinese to listen to sanctimonious Western ‘democrats’ preaching self-determination for Tibetans and free speech within China in light of our own recent betrayals of such concepts, from Guantanamo and Iraq to 42 days detention and ID cards.
In March, the LGIU hosted a delegation from China. Dr Andy Johnson described it as ‘a great opportunity for UK local government to share good practice with the country that is set to dominate world affairs in the next decade.’
What good practice might British councils share? In May, Beijing banned smoking in public places, in the name of ‘cleaning up the city’s image for the Olympic Games’, and recruited 100,000 inspectors to ensure the ban is observed. Sound familiar?
Since then, Beijing has announced an early-morning curfew on socialising (to prevent public drunkenness), restrictions on car use (to protect the environment), and a system of security searches (to clamp down on terrorists and potential trouble-maker). This is no Little Red Book-style authoritarian clampdown – this is straight out of UK local government ‘good practice’ guidelines.
It is often suggested that Western politicians are loath to criticise China because it offers business opportunities. Partly, local government’s enthusiasm is an exemplar of such pragmatism.
With China’s economy growing in such extraordinary leaps, local authorities are keen to grab a piece of the action. The LGA explains that ‘Swansea’s link with Nantong… has boosted trade and job creation’, while Birmingham City Council leader, Mike Whitby, aims to ensure ‘that Birmingham, and the wider region, benefits from the booming Chinese market’.
One needn’t be too cynical about this. The dramatic rise of China actually does have enormous potential for global innovation.
For anyone concerned with social equality, the fact that millions of Chinese people have been pulled from peasantry and poverty into prosperity and modernity should surely be celebrated. But mean-spirited British environmentalists whinge that coal-fired power stations are too high a price to pay to fuel Western lifestyles for the Chinese masses. What hypocrisy.
As an ethically rebranded but nonetheless nasty version of ‘Yellow peril’ gains ground, perhaps councils’ friendships with their Chinese twinned cities might just make a world of difference. n
Claire Fox is director of the Institute of Ideas
One solution is international twinning schemes. Forging links with China has become particularly fashionable of late, whether it’s Cardiff’s twinning with Xiamen, Tameside MBC with Bengbu Municipal People’s Government, or Essex CC’s close links with Jiangsu.
These connections are said to improve inter-cultural understanding, and they can certainly mean greater empathy between countries, thousands of miles apart.
Deputy head teacher, Susan Davies, whose Swansea school has links with Nantong, explains: ‘The world is a small place, and we should get to know it better.’
It was inspiring the way Leicestershire CC, twinned with the Sichuan region, responded to the tragic earthquake earlier this year. Council leader, David Parsons, was in regular contact with the governor of the province during the crisis.
This genuine friendship stands in stark contrast to some of the more shrill Western attitudes to China over recent months. Everyone, from Hollywood stars, to former ministers and Amnesty International, has joined in slating China for media censorship, funding ‘Khartoum’s genocide’, oppressing Tibetans, etc, etc. As the Beijing Olympics start, intemperate anti-China posturing has intensified.
The often-hysterical condemnations have led some commentators, such as journalist Brendan O’Neill, to note that ‘China-bashing is the new Olympic sport’. In this climate, anyone who extends a hand of friendship to China risks being branded an apologist for human rights abuses.
I am no friend of the Chinese Communist Party, and as someone who regularly argues against any restrictions on free speech and civil liberties, no doubt, I would fare badly under a regime which jails dissident bloggers.
However, before we indulge in smug ‘better than thou-ism’, we might consider whether the West itself is such a beacon of freedom. It must be galling for the Chinese to listen to sanctimonious Western ‘democrats’ preaching self-determination for Tibetans and free speech within China in light of our own recent betrayals of such concepts, from Guantanamo and Iraq to 42 days detention and ID cards.
In March, the LGIU hosted a delegation from China. Dr Andy Johnson described it as ‘a great opportunity for UK local government to share good practice with the country that is set to dominate world affairs in the next decade.’
What good practice might British councils share? In May, Beijing banned smoking in public places, in the name of ‘cleaning up the city’s image for the Olympic Games’, and recruited 100,000 inspectors to ensure the ban is observed. Sound familiar?
Since then, Beijing has announced an early-morning curfew on socialising (to prevent public drunkenness), restrictions on car use (to protect the environment), and a system of security searches (to clamp down on terrorists and potential trouble-maker). This is no Little Red Book-style authoritarian clampdown – this is straight out of UK local government ‘good practice’ guidelines.
It is often suggested that Western politicians are loath to criticise China because it offers business opportunities. Partly, local government’s enthusiasm is an exemplar of such pragmatism.
With China’s economy growing in such extraordinary leaps, local authorities are keen to grab a piece of the action. The LGA explains that ‘Swansea’s link with Nantong… has boosted trade and job creation’, while Birmingham City Council leader, Mike Whitby, aims to ensure ‘that Birmingham, and the wider region, benefits from the booming Chinese market’.
One needn’t be too cynical about this. The dramatic rise of China actually does have enormous potential for global innovation.
For anyone concerned with social equality, the fact that millions of Chinese people have been pulled from peasantry and poverty into prosperity and modernity should surely be celebrated. But mean-spirited British environmentalists whinge that coal-fired power stations are too high a price to pay to fuel Western lifestyles for the Chinese masses. What hypocrisy.
As an ethically rebranded but nonetheless nasty version of ‘Yellow peril’ gains ground, perhaps councils’ friendships with their Chinese twinned cities might just make a world of difference. n
Claire Fox is director of the Institute of Ideas
