The Dragon Says: The Dongying Proposal Will Test Our Council’s Democratic Instincts

Published on: 1 Oct, 2017
Updated on: 8 Oct, 2017

There is nothing inherently wrong with our town deciding to link up with another. The twinning arrangement with Freiburg seems to have worked well enough for decades.

But surely an idea for any new relationship should be properly proposed and debated before arrangements are made to send a senior delegation thousands of miles to sign up to an agreement none of us have seen.

This does not appear to be happening in the case of Dongying. What seems to have transpired is that the council leader and deputy leader were invited to a lunch at the University of Surrey (UoS) to welcome a delegation from the vice-chancellor’s home-town. At the lunch the idea of linking the two towns was put forward by the vice-chancellor, and eventually adopted as council policy – with very little debate at all.

Even members of the Twinning Committee, the minutes of which do not appear on the GBC website, appear only to have been told in passing.

The proposal is to come to the full council only days before the GBC delegation is due to fly and sign up. Although not admitted at the Executive meeting last week, the tickets must have already been bought and paid for.

It is quite understandable that the vice-chancellor has an ambition to see closer links forged between what is believed to be his home town and his newly adopted one. His reasons are unlikely to be purely sentimental – universities are big businesses these days; foreign students are profitable and the UoS is popular with Chinese students.

Perhaps Cllrs Spooner and Furniss were expecting an easy ride on the proposal but even at the Executive meeting concerned voices were raised including that of Cllr Angela Gunning, a member of the Twinning Committee.

Predictably, some members of the Executive rallied round. Their defence of the proposal though, stressing the potential economic benefits to Guildford, was sadly out of tune with a government report, Twinning and contact between British and Chinese cities. It states: “Whilst civic benefits of Sino-British twinning are evident, there are fewer evidences indicating the economic benefit of Sino-British twinning relations.”

Cllr Illman had presumably not read the report. He could hardly contain his enthusiasm, his delivery reminiscent of the woman who announces the latest nuclear test on North Korean TV.

Cllr Bilbe showed a philosophical bent and went for a classical reference, comparing those not in favour of such initiatives to a Greek chap, Diogenes, who, eschewing the outside world, is supposed to have lived in a barrel.

Interestingly, Diogenes is said to have maintained that artificial growth of society was incompatible with happiness and that morality implies a return to the simplicity of nature.

Anyway, it is plain silly to suggest that Guildfordians are by and large an inward looking bunch. Our history is largely based on the fact that we lie on a nodal point of transport. We have been anything but isolated. Additionally, Guildford has become a centre for parts of the scientific and IT sectors – sectors which are, by their nature, international.

But the main issue is not about the pros and cons of globalisation, or even about the advisability of creating a link to a city dissimilar in almost every way with Guildford in a non democratic country with a poor record on human rights.

No, the main issue is that these decisions should be discussed fully and openly, public opinion ascertained and consensus achieved before any conclusion is reached.

That is meant to be our way of doing things, rather than a few people deciding and presenting it as a fait accomplis. How the Tory rank and file debate this on October 10 will be a test of their true democratic instincts.

Responses to The Dragon Says: The Dongying Proposal Will Test Our Council’s Democratic Instincts

Martin Elliott Reply

October 1, 2017 at 9:44 pm

I wonder if that report,”Twinning and contact between British and Chinese cities,” which, incidentally, was issued by the Government Office for Science, will be included in the document package for each councillor, for the October 10 meeting, along with a validated cost benefit analysis.
Stuart Barnes Reply

October 2, 2017 at 10:09 am

This proposal seems to be somewhat bizarre. To link up with a country which is still a communist dictatorship, with many of its people locked up for wanting democracy and, amongst other things is occupying Tibet and an ally of North Korea, is surely not a sensible idea?
Monica Jones Reply

October 2, 2017 at 9:32 pm

This has got to be democratically discussed and agreed or not. Otherwise it appears to be councillors going off on a jolly at residents’ expense.
Lisa Wright Reply

October 3, 2017 at 10:40 am

Has the £5,000 trip already been voted for? It seems Cllr Spooner is already packing if you look at his latest tweet!
Jane Hepburn Reply

October 3, 2017 at 5:04 pm

I am sure the idea of twinning was well meant and came from the noblest of intentions. But since we are a democracy and our councils have a system for coming to a decision on issues, particularly those which involve handing over £5,000 of our council tax for a jolly with no obvious benefit to our town, there should be a frank and open discussion followed by a vote.

This is not how things are done in China where members of our illustrious vice-chancellor’s ancestral home would be naturally anticipating a wide open back door to our university.

So to avoid any hint of nepotism or favouritism on anyone’s behalf let’s make this decision in the time-honoured British way.

The council might well say ‘yes let’s do it’ and so be it. But they may also for good reasons say ‘no’. Let’s give them that chance.
Mike Murphy Reply

October 5, 2017 at 4:56 pm

It seems to fit in well with the ambitions of Cllr Spooner and Cllr Furniss.
Jules Cranwell Reply

October 7, 2017 at 12:22 pm

Let them go say I. Hopefully, they’ll like it so much, they’ll stay there. At least while there they can do no more damage to our borough and environment, as they propose to do with their discredited Local Plan.

Maybe they’ll even learn something about the impact of rapid population growth in a confined area, on pollution.
By the way, I cannot believe such a trip will cost a mere £5,000. We’ll know after they get back, should they ever deign to answer a FoI request.
Mike Livingstone Reply

October 11, 2017 at 3:37 pm

Are they learning about life under communism in preparation for Jeremy Corbyn?
Gordon Bridger Reply

October 11, 2017 at 6:14 pm

The following is the heading of a news item in today’s Times page 35 – “Billions of Chinese aid makes developing countries poorer”. We are not a developing country but we have a dragon by the tail.

Friendship entails favours and an expressed concern for anyone imprisoned in China would not be welcomed and naturally, friends are expected to return lavish hospitality.

The Chinese have had an extraordinary success thanks to their energy and ability to acquire western technology. There is quite a lot of this in Guildford. My guess, however, is that house purchase will be high in their priorities and this will be highly damaging to our economy.