As Hongkongers living in Scotland, we want to raise our concerns about the sister-city relationship between   Edinburgh, Perth, Angus and Glasgow City Councils and Xian, Shenzhen, Haikou, Dalian and Yantai.

We are demanding the aforementioned local councils to sever their alliances with the Chinese Government. This joint global campaign is co-launched by 163 cities in 7 countries in Asia, America, Europe and Oceania. 
 
Starting from 2019, the world is witnessing Hong Kong’s autonomy encroached by the Chinese government. Human rights abuses are prevalent, freedom of the press are destroyed and democratic voices are suppressed. The democracy, freedom of expression, and the rule of law as promised under the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ framework within the Sino-British Joint Declaration were crushed as the Chinese Government implemented the National Security Law, which overrides Hong Kong's own legislative system. 
 
The default of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a legal-binding international treaty, is not China’s first time which broke its international obligations. China’s pro-Russia stance on the invasion of  Ukraine also shows its inconsistency with legal-binding agreements which China once made a deal with Ukraine in 2013. China promises to protect Ukraine from the threat of nuclear attack which has not been materialised. These cases are indeed reflecting how the Chinese government never respect any agreements. 
 
Apart from China’s untrustworthy behaviour on the global stage, its notorious human rights abuse records also reveal this totalitarian nature. Since 2014, China has been committing genocide in Xinjiang (East Turkestan) by sending Uyghurs and Muslims to the so-called Vocational Education and Training Centres (also called Concentration camps and Internment camps). Recently, leaked documents exposed the inhuman situation in those camps like the shoot-to-kill policy, torture, sexual abuse, etc.

When there are countless pieces of evidence exposing the crimes that the Chinese Communist Party has committed, we should not turn a blind eye and must not submit to China’s totalitarianism. Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth and Angus City Councils must stand up to Scottish values and stand with the oppressed. All in all, we call on everyone who stands up for human rights and sign this petition to urge the Edinburgh, Perth, Angus and Glasgow City Councils to decouple with the Chinese cities Xian Shenzhen (Edinburgh), Haikou(Perth), Yantai(Angus) and Dalian (Glasgow)