The Importance of Sister Cities in China for New Zealand
Introduction
When I was first invited to offer some thoughts on the importance of the sister cities in China for NZ –
and it was suggested I had the luxury of about 40-50 minutes to wax lyrical, and sagely on this weighty
issue – I thought I’d struggle with a topic which appeared, on the surface at least, to be something of a
political side show – or worse still an irrelevance.
After all, local government politics, which is from where all such sister city relationships emanate, are
generally regarded by the media, our big brothers and sisters in central government and, worst of all,
the voting public as something of little consequence – and an expensive one at that!
In the case of the Government in Wellington local government is useful as a vehicle in which to park
thorny and unpopular tax – gathering services – things like the application of the RMA, building codes
and their attendant fees, fines for parking infringements, dog licensing and the enforcement of
environmental health legislation.
So central government devolves responsibility for that and other ballot box turn-offs to local government
who then cop it from their ratepayers for “nit-picking” regulations - and all without any financial reward
for the local council – while those in the Beehive concern themselves with the wider picture and the
much sexier issues like trade deals, world peace, climate change and seats around the tables at
international forums.
Then along comes a more enlightened group like the Confucius Institute inviting me, someone who’s
served on his local council for 15 years with 6 as Mayor to offer a view on how local governments,
through the sister city network have influenced the NZ – China relationship on a wider scale.
I am heartened for three reasons. One, in my experience, no one pays much attention to the wise
utterings of mayors. Two, they take even less notice of ex mayors! But thirdly and most seriously I am
heartened by the statement of Madam Li Xiaolin Chair of the Chinese Peoples Association for
Friendship with Foreign Countries when she said “Sister Cities play an important part in the
modernization of China. In promoting development we need to respect each other’s differences and the
stage of development each one is at. The three main points are to deepen friendship, respect each
other and treat each other fairly.”
So your invitation to explore local influences via sister cities on the wider stage especially how the
Dunedin - Shanghai link has worked to the advantage of both countries – and the untapped potential, is
one that I accepted with alacrity before it could be withdrawn.
I confess to relishing the prospect of digging in this fertile ground.
Indeed, to pursue this horticultural theme, the blossoming friendship forged between Dunedin and its
Chinese sister city Shanghai, most importantly through the construction of a Chinese garden in Dunedin
to commemorate the role played by the Chinese in Dunedin’s heritage, particularly the miners who
came here by the boat load to seek their fortune in the Otago Gold rush of the 1860s, has been the key
ingredient in fertilising the seeds of promise sown by both Chinese and NZ politicians and diplomats –
the most spectacular outcome of which has been the flowering of the recently signed Free Trade
Agreement between the two countries.
With that single act, watched with envy by the international community barely able to keep the “why
them” question from their lips, New Zealand moved from being a bit player from the bottom of the
Pacific into an international trail-blazer.
And, as I’ll show later, it all began with a community garden in little old Dunedin.
Why has New Zealand been singled out by China?
So why New Zealand – and similarly, why Dunedin?
Well, much as it pains me to admit it, it’s because neither Dunedin on the national scale, nor New
Zealand on the international stage could be regarded as big hitters.
Yet precisely because of this modest status, Dunedin and New Zealand, especially in the context of
developing our relationship with China, were seen as a useful toe in the water by the super powers of
China and USA.
Recently retired US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell –
Hillary Clinton’s chief advisor for the region – observed:
“We (US) hope and expect NZ to have a good relationship with China…and as a result we can learn a
lot from NZ about China because China will already have a range of diplomatic and trade ideas and
approaches tested.”
Some might think this is akin to being dammed by faint praise but I contend we should be chuffed that
NZ is seen as pioneering the guidelines for exploring and exploiting China’s global aspirations.
Let’s be honest about this – we’re no threat to either China or America.
NZ’s attitudes to a whole range of human rights issues, the role of women, workplace conditions,
freedom of speech, education and law and order offers much to a China eager to engage and learn –
whatever their motives.
And while we’re giving ourselves a modest and belated pat on the back for our envied package of rights
which we probably take for granted we can add that the rest of the world and, in particular America and
China, have a high regard for NZ’s leadership role in the Pacific Rim region.
The Free Trade Agreement and Its Impact on New Zealand
Before I come to the Dunedin – Shanghai link and the part it is playing in these shifts of attitude let me
set the scene and offer some observations on the current NZ – China relationship.
The Free Trade Agreement between NZ and China was signed on 7th April 2008 following a negotiation
process that lasted 3 years with some 15 rounds of meetings and came into effect on 1 October 2008.
The FTA itself liberalises and facilitates trade in goods and services, improves the business
environment and promotes co-operation between the two countries in a broad range of economic
areas.
In effect this means that NZ and China have entered into an agreement that allows for mutually
beneficial concessions in the area of trade of goods and services and investment.
So how important is China to NZ?
Virtually every article of clothing we buy, every piece of hardware, furnishings and most other
commodities in our shops bear the ‘Made in China’ label.
And I guarantee that everyone here today has something on them or with them which is ‘Made in
China’.
So ubiquitous, so pervasive is this influence that when I travel to China I have to be particularly careful
to ensure that the gifts I take with me from NZ don’t have a ‘Made in China’ label on them!
I’m sure we all recall the furore last year when it was revealed that most NZ souvenir shops were
stocked with ‘Made in China’ products – and they still are.
But our exports to China are increasing at an extraordinary rate and it won’t be long before China will
be the biggest importer of NZ produce.
NZ’s exports to China were worth $6.9 billion last year and have more than tripled in the 4 ½ years
since the FTA came into effect!
And in the world of tourism an increasingly affluent Chinese middle-class is being encouraged to visit
NZ’s green and pleasant – and I might add, relatively empty – land to the point where China now
represents the second largest visitor component to NZ, second only to Australia.
Who would bet against China becoming number one in that area in the next period of time?
It is also our largest source of foreign students (the new Gold Rush).
And to illustrate the inevitable importance of China to NZ – and of our growing status as a friend of the
Pacific – Prime Minister John Key has only recently returned from China where he led NZ’s biggest
delegation yet of Government ministers, and business leaders – not to mention the media pack which
followed their progress – to acknowledge 40 years of diplomatic relations and to promote mutual
goodwill between the two countries.
This, surely, was a sign to the world of NZ’s growing stature in China – and the world will have been
watching.
All of this then is carefully weighed and documented in the capitals of the world and whatever your
politics and your views on the merits or otherwise of getting into bed with the behemoth that is modern
day China and the projected prosperity such trade links might deliver to NZ – the figures alone don’t lie.
The Sister City Movement
But when we turn to the somewhat more esoteric sister city relationship there is on the surface more
justification to ask: what’s in it for us?
May I suggest that there’s nothing in local body politics more likely to arouse the mistrust of ratepayers
than the pursuit of “meaningful relationships” with other communities, especially when those other
communities are overseas.
The suspicion of ratepayers that such “meaningful relationships” are nothing more than thinly veiled
artificial excuses for social intercourse – or junkets - grows exponentially by the miles travelled to
pursue these “meaningful relationships”.
The sister city movement began life in America promoted by President Eisenhower following WWII to
establish people-to-people connections – a means of citizen-to-citizen diplomacy aimed at creating and
maintaining peace throughout the world after the war in Europe and the Pacific.
Before I discuss Dunedin’s sister city relationships I would note in passing:

Christchurch has 7 sister cities including 2 in China, Wuhan and Gansu.

Wellington has 6 sister cities including 2 in China, Xiamen and Beijing.

Auckland city has 17 sister cities including 3 in China, Guangzhou, Ningbo and Qingdao.

New Plymouth has Kunming, Taupo has Suzhou, Tauranga has Yantai among their sister
city mix.
The cynic in me notes that there is a lack of sister city linking with some of the less attractive parts of
the world.
You’ll not find many Indian or Pakistani or Central American or Western Africa or Eastern European
countries standing in the wooing queue when it comes to sister city courtship.
Part of the ratepayer’s mistrust and suspicion is not that of envy – that our politicians and various
hangers-on are perceived to be in for free trips and lunches - as the fact that in most cases there are no
specifically defined outcomes, other than to be friends, and no guidelines for what those outcomes
might be, and how to measure them.
So to put it bluntly again: what’s in it for the ratepayers footing the bill? I’m always slightly surprised that
so much emphasis is placed on this “what’s in it for us” attitude. I’m not aware that it was ever
suggested sister city relationships should pay their way. If they do so much the better but the original
concept was a better understanding of other people and other cultures through friendship.
So let me offer some answers based on examples I’m familiar with – although even then my analysis
and responses are, it must be admitted, only our side of the story.
It might be worth noting at this point that Dunedin’s sister city budget is $60,000.00 a year so by any
standard that’s hardly extravagant.
This $60,000.00 supports its four sister city commitments.
The oldest and least active is with Portsmouth Virginia, USA which almost certainly came about as a
result of the Eisenhower initiative and the visit to Dunedin by American naval vessels in the 50s and
60s.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. We were both on the same side during the war; we both had a
port and, probably most attractive to Portsmouth and its sailors an abundance of fresh air and beautiful
young women - although I may be overstating their interest in fresh air.
We on the other hand were still basking in the post-war glows of being fascinated by all things
American – especially their movie-stars, their show biz celebrities and, in the case of the ladies their
abundant supply of nylon stockings and chocolate.
The appeal of American servicemen to our young ladies was probably compensated for by a generous
supply of cheap cigarettes for our young men.
That was then. Now we barely talk.
The last time we had anything to do with Portsmouth was a small civic visit to them to see how they
conducted their council business, followed a couple of years later in 1998 when a small delegation
visited during our 150th anniversary celebrations.
The Portsmouth link, not to put too finer point on it, is moribund.
Our links with Edinburgh, Scotland have much deeper cultural roots and are the better for it.
Dunedin owes its European settlement to the elders of the First Church of Scotland and the
Presbyterian Church ministers who arrived from Scotland to establish the Edinburgh of the South.
They brought with them plans for a bright new city and a flourishing South Pacific community,
committed to the strict values of their church.
Thus Dunedin was established with a strong Christian work ethic, a commitment to education, equality
between men and women and enlightened attitudes to social reform.
The immediate and lasting results are New Zealand’s first university, a variety of liberal thinking
educational and cultural institutions offering equal opportunities for men and women, fantastic heritage
buildings and a rugged conservatism when dealing with life’s vicissitudes and fiscal prudence in money
matters.
We also love the bagpipes, haggis and whisky – although not necessarily in that order and not always
in equal measure!
It helps that we share the same language although anyone who’s visited Scotland will know that’s not
always immediately apparent.
Third on our list of sister city links is Otaru, a small city on the northern island of Hokkaido in Japan.
This relationship is well maintained by a very active sister city society in each city with an emphasis on
cultural and educational exchanges.
And I can personally attest from my two visits to Otaru and their Mayoral visits to Dunedin that the
hospitality is overwhelming and ensures very social civic reciprocal exchanges!
And then came Shanghai which, I suggest, ticks just about all the boxes when it comes to a cost benefit
analysis.
The Trade Benefits of the Sister City Relationship with Shanghai
Nowadays at the top of everybody’s list when analysing these sister city or even Free Trade
Agreements, is what it delivers in terms of trade.
So here it is – direct from Shanghai.
In 2012 Shanghai – NZ bilateral trading figure was US$1.6 billion.
NZ sent US$1.1 billion dollars’ worth of goods to Shanghai, while Shanghai exported US$400 million to
us.
And why are we in Dunedin proud of that?
Because Dunedin is the window of opportunity through which NZ as a whole, guided by Helen Clark’s
government, began to recognize the mutual potential for improving and expanding our trade with China.
Why did Shanghai Court Dunedin for a Sister City Relationship?
So why Dunedin, and why Shanghai?
Who made the first move is debatable.
I’ve heard it suggested that Shanghai, the so called “Sleeping Giant” of the Chinese economy wanted to
sign up with a NZ city.
The story goes that on being given a list of major NZ cities, and in the absence of Auckland, Wellington
and Christchurch which were already spoken for Dunedin was, alphabetically, the next sister waiting to
be wooed!
And wooed, most successfully, we were although slightly bemused at our good fortune to be courted by
so eligible a suitor!
But history, as they say, is written by winners and the Dunedin mayor at the time of these ‘comings’ and
‘goings’ – 1993 – Richard Walls seems to have a legitimate claim to being the match-maker.
Certainly the DCC Archives shows that he first raised the matter of a sister city link during a visit to
Shanghai. The Shanghai archives note that “In 1992 Richard Walls, then Mayor of Dunedin, expressed
twice through the Chinese Embassy in NZ Dunedin’s wish to link with Shanghai as a sister city. In
November 1993 Richard Walls visited Shanghai and invited a delegation to visit Dunedin to discuss that
possibility. In September 1994 a working group from the Shanghai Muncipal Foreign Affairs Office
visited Dunedin and signed a letter of intent. On the 21st of October 1994, Mayor Huang Ju of Shanghai
visited Dunedin and signed the sister city agreement with Mayor Walls”.
We became Shanghai’s 28th sister city. Today, Shanghai has 58 sister cities as well as 5 International
Friendship cities. We are sisters to Shanghai alongside such cities as Milan, San Francisco, Hamburg,
Liverpool, Sao Paulo and Barcelona to name but a few.
I have no idea what Shanghai’s sister city budget is to service those 58 sister cities and 5 international
friendship cities but I am sure that it is more than $60,000.00.
Their sister cities are divided geographically for administration purposes into 3 divisions, Europe and
Africa, Asia and Oceania, and America.
There is a continuity in the staff of the Shanghai Foreign Affairs Office Asia and Oceania Division who
look after the Dunedin relationship.
During the six years that I was privileged to be the Mayor of Dunedin, I visited Shanghai nine times
during which there has been established a very trusting friendly relationship with the staff which has
been enhanced by the continuing work of the current Mayor, Dave Cull who has just paid his second
visit to Shanghai and in the process meeting up with the new Mayor. The staff of the Oceania Division
take a great deal of interest in Dunedin, studying all the news and events that happen in Dunedin,
probably mainly through the Otago Daily Times, but they are indeed very well informed about what is
happening.
To give you an illustration of the degree of interest they have in Dunedin, mid last year there was an
item in the Otago Daily Times which featured my name and my photograph. My friend from Shanghai
Foreign Affairs Office sent me an email commenting on the article and asking about my health because
she thought that I looked very tired in the photograph. I was able to assure her that it was an archived
photograph of several years ago and that without the stress of public office, I was looking a little better.
But I digress - the early days of the agreement focused on links with the University, inter-school maths
contests, some major exchanges of exhibitions and artefacts from our respective cultural institutions –
and talks among civic business leaders and the Otago Chamber of Commerce as to how we could take
advantage of a range of seemingly unlimited commercial opportunities.
Unfortunately almost all of this early promise was washed away at the next local elections when
Richard Walls lost the mayoralty to a candidate who as a matter of principle over her perception of
China’s human rights record, chose not to pursue the new relationship with the vigour it needed in
those early days.
My views, then as now, and subsequently borne out by events in China, is that we stood more chance
of effecting change if we could show by example how NZ’s attitudes to human rights, freedom of
expression and law and order might offer another way forward.
It would be fair to say that our sister city relationship with Shanghai (our guanxi) faltered at this point –
though not for any want of enthusiasm or generosity of spirit on their part.
Guanxi
Guanxi is not an easy concept for New Zealanders to understand and develop. My Googled simple
explanation is - “Guanxi is a general Chinese term used to describe relationships that may result in
exchanges of favours or connections that are beneficial for the parties involved – a networking with an
element of personal and mutual trust. It is a personal connection between two people in which one is
able to prevail upon another to perform a favour or service or be prevailed upon. Reciprocity is an
essential element.
I suppose the European phenomenon, transplanted to NZ, which is somewhat akin to but far less
complex than guanxi is - the old boy network.
I’ve spent all my life living in Dunedin.
I went to school there – at Otago Boys’ High School, one of those conventional, single sex schools
devoted to the four Rs – reading writing arithmetic and – rugby!
After modest success at the first 3 and none whatsoever at the fourth I went to NZ’s oldest University,
Otago, to study law before beginning a 50 year career in legal practice and in later years dabbling in
local politics on the side.
Over that time there would not have been a person of influence in the city with whom I hadn’t rubbed
shoulders somewhere along the line.
If I didn’t know who to call when I needed help and advice there was always somebody I went to school
or university with or whom I knew who would, and boy does that make life easier. This was the Dunedin
equivalent of the Old Boy Network sometimes called the “Tartan Mafia”.
Well – doing business in China is very much like that – only more so!
It’s not what you know that will help forge useful business ties but who that will get you to the front of
the queue.
A Memorial to Early Chinese Settlers to New Zealand
Perhaps the best illustration of that phenomenon came in the most unexpected way. Nothing in my
career in the law and local politics prepared me for what was to eventuate when Dunedin suggested
some form of permanent memorial to commemorate the contribution of Dunedin’s early Chinese
immigrants to the city’s economic and cultural heritage.
And what we achieved in the end was almost entirely due to the determination of the Dunedin
promotion of the proposal – and the generosity of the Shanghai “guanxi” – as between us we created
the only authentic Chinese Garden in Australasia in which every stone, rock, brick, every piece of
masonry and timber was sourced from Shanghai and then transported to Dunedin to be assembled by
Chinese artisans flown in specifically for the job.
Fundraising for the project started in 1997 with the local Dunedin Chinese community and was to later
involve the city’s residents and tellingly the NZ Government.
At about the same time, under the sister city agreement, the Dunedin Public Art Gallery had arranged
with the Shanghai Museum for an exhibition of ancient Chinese bronzes to visit Dunedin.
During that 3 month exhibition we became friendly with the Shanghai Museum officials, looked after
them forging a relationship which endures to this day.
Over time we talked to them about our vision for a garden and when they came to understand the
history of the Chinese in New Zealand and the hardships that they endured, they were taken by our
desire to contribute something tangible to the community. They told us that they would support us, and
build the garden for us. It took us some years to understand exactly what they meant by that, but in
simple terms they were going to bring all the materials over and build the garden for us for a fixed price.
The Dunedin City Council allocated a piece of land which at that time was an off street carpark behind
the then Otago Settlers’ Museum, and early on there was a ceremony with the local Ngai Tahu iwi to
bless the land. Also present was a Vice Mayor from Shanghai with a Chinese delegation to lay the
foundation stone.
The Dunedin City Council in addition to granting the land made a commitment of a gift of one million
dollars towards the project and this was matched by a similar amount from the Otago Community Trust.
After years of fundraising the magic moment arrived when Prime Minister Helen Clark, herself with
strong family links to the Gold Rush region of Central Otago, came to Dunedin and presented a
Government grant of $3.75millon on the 30th of May 2006. It was the only time I can recall weeping in
public.
The garden was built and was opened on the Tuesday the 16th of September 2008 by Prime Minister
Helen Clark and Mr Liu Yungeng, the Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress and later
this year it will be celebrating its 5th birthday.
Despite all the local endeavours the project would not have happened without the generosity of the
Shanghai Government because although it was built for a fixed price, there were all sorts of
contingencies which came up, extras that had to be done and all that happened within the fixed price.
Nor would it have happened without the NZ Government funding. Why would the Government fund a
project such as this? You would have to ask the cabinet of the day, but my guess is that it provided
tremendous fillip to the Free Trade Agreement negotiations. They knew that we had reached the end of
our fundraising endeavours and that without Government support the project would not have been able
to proceed. Given Shanghai had made a considerable contribution there might have been a significant
loss of face on our part if we had not matched their generosity.
The guanxi that was developed with all those from Shanghai associated with the project continues to
this day.
Our garden is a sister garden to the Yu garden in Shanghai. The Yu garden is about 450 years old
attracts about 1.3 million visitors a year and we are its only sister garden.
The friendships built between Shanghai and Dunedin now form the basis of a relationship that works for
both cities – Dunedin and Shanghai – and on a much wider scale for both countries – NZ and China.
The Current Relationship Between Dunedin and Shanghai
During the last sister city visit to Shanghai just over a month ago, Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull led a party
of civic leaders, business leaders, the Otago Chamber of Commerce, representatives from University of
Otago, the Otago Polytechnic and 5 Dunedin secondary schools.
On the way to Shanghai the delegation visited Fisher & Paykel’s owners Haier in Qingdao. Fisher &
Paykel/Haier appliances are designed in their Dunedin operation.
Leading the Dunedin sister city group Mayor Cull accompanied the Otago Chamber of Commerce who
signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Zizhu Chamber of Commerce over the Zizhu HighTech Industrial Development Zone a Technology Park complex specialising in electronics,
pharmaceuticals and new materials. The complex houses two universities and such internationally
famous brands such as Intel, Yamaha, Microsoft, HP and Borg Warner.
And the Mayor accompanied Otago Polytechnic staff to a Shanghai Fashion Week show.
A highlight was the opening of a Dunedin photographic exhibition on the 17th of April 2013 in the
sumptuous 450 year old Yu Garden to celebrate the 5th anniversary of our garden Lan Yuan.
At the opening of the exhibition Mr Zhu Weimin the Deputy Director-General of the Shanghai Municipal
Foreign Affairs Office said “The Lan Yuan program is not only a well-known brand of the sister city
relationship between Shanghai and Dunedin but also a model of China-New Zealand cooperation.
To maintain the pure Chinese culture of Dunedin’s Lan Yuan, Yu Garden of Shanghai and Lan Yuan of
Dunedin became sister gardens in 2010. The two gardens cooperate and progress hand in hand and
their friendship is a much told story of horticultural cooperation. By enjoying the Photo Exhibition of Lan
Yuan and Dunedin, Shanghai citizens and tourists both at home and abroad will, from a different
perspective view the splendour of Lan Yuan and see the beauty of Dunedin, and will learn something
about the sister garden cooperation between the two gardens.”
Is there any better way or cheaper way of advertising our city and our country to the Chinese?
The prime purpose of Mayor Cull’s visit was to meet with the new Mayor of Shanghai, Mr Yang Xiong
and to sign an updated Memorandum of Understanding which will cover the next 3 years. Under this
Agreement both cities agree to conduct mutually beneficial co-operation in a variety of areas such as
business and trade, education, tourism, culture and sport, botany and horticulture. The document
records that since the Sister City agreement was signed in 1994 “the two cities have increased mutual
understanding and deepened friendship through fruitful co-operation and exchange in the business,
trade, public health, educational, recreational and cultural areas”. It is a high level document and action
plans are to be established to sit beneath it. It also ties in with Dunedin’s Economic Development
strategy which was adopted last year and which includes a specific focus on Shanghai.
At the signing Mayor Cull said “our relationship has reached a level of maturity and is already
supporting growing connections between our two cities.
There is a high level of trust on both sides and this mutual friendship is poised to translate into an
expansion of trade, economic and cultural links across the board.” Mayor Yang said “that of all
Shanghai’s Sister City relationships, Dunedin is one of those with a special place in Shanghai’s
affections.” Significantly he went on to accept an invitation by Mayor Cull to visit Dunedin during his five
year term of office.
If this visit eventuates it will indeed be a very high level occasion in which New Zealand Government
would also have a significant role to play as the office of the Mayor of Shanghai has often been the
stepping stone for the incumbent to attain even higher office.
It is not easy to gain audience with the Mayor of Shanghai. The Shanghai Foreign Affairs Office which
looks after the Shanghai side of the Sister City relationship has always said that the door of the Mayor’s
office is always open to the Prime Minister of New Zealand and the Mayor of Dunedin. During my six
years as the Mayor of Dunedin I had the privilege of meeting the Mayor of Shanghai on 3 occasions.
On each of those occasions I invited the New Zealand Consul General in Shanghai to accompany me
because that was the only way that he or she could ever meet with the Mayor.
May I suggest that all that should tick enough boxes to satisfy the most rigorous examination of how the
annual sister city budget of $60,000.00 is spent.
What is the Benefit of Having a Sister City Relationship with China?
But at the end of the day I’m left wondering if there is any meaningful system for assessing the value of
our sister city relationship and who gets to decide what those boxes represent and who decides what
gets a tick and what does not.
Let’s face it – when was the last time any of us carried out a cost benefit analysis on our sister - or any
other member of the family for that matter!
Can, or should, any friendship be the subject of such impersonal financial scrutiny.
Do any of us look at our friends or relations and ask ‘Am I getting value for money out of him or her?’
I acknowledge that using ratepayer’s money changes the nature of our relationships – but I’m
uncomfortable that this should be the yardstick by which such agreements are progressed.
I find that making such assessments solely - on the basis of who contributes what and whether it
delivers value for money quite repugnant.
And while I’m talking about this cost benefit type analysis of our Shanghai relationship let me return just
briefly to something I alluded to earlier – the argument that we should have nothing to do with China
because of their different attitude to human rights. I’ve always tried to avoid getting into this debate,
because it seems to me there are two sides implacably opposed who simply don’t want to listen to one
another – and you have only to recall how bitter were the divisions opened up across New Zealand by
our stance on contact with South Africa during that country’s apartheid regime. Let me say this about
China’s willingness to acknowledge that there are alternatives to their views on human rights and
freedom of expression. My ethnicity gives me the courage to state categorically that the Chinese are
always eager to study and learn. For some years now, under the sister city umbrella, and out of the
glare of publicity, officers from the Shanghai Bureau of Justice have been making regular visits to the
law faculty of the University of Otago to study our corrections system, the courts, our probation
services and our prisons.
It seems to me unlikely that they would repeat these study courses if there wasn’t some
acknowledgement of a willingness to learn from the ways of others.
Ludicrous though it may seem, in this relationship of Dunedin with 120,000 citizens and Shanghai with
20 million plus, neither side sees itself as the senior partner, both believe they have something unique
to bring to the relationship – and neither side counts the cost of their friendship.
For those of you who have already visited Lan Yuan you will know it stands alongside the Toitu Otago
Settlors’ Museum which traces Dunedin’s past and the people and cultures who contributed to the
region’s development. Both of these attractions are located in the shadow of the city’s cenotaph
marking those who lost their lives fighting for freedom in successive wars. As this year’s Anzac Day
commemorations approached, I was thinking about this presentation and was struggling with identifying
the nub of the Dunedin – Shanghai relationship.
It came to me in the most incongruous of
circumstances as I stood in the cold darkness of the dawn Anzac service.
I recalled stories about small villages in France and Belgium where Anzac Day is still marked by
communities whose very existence was decided by random acts of courage and commitment by NZ
Servicemen and I realised that while we may have no other links with these villages half a world away
we are not forgotten.
So in some roundabout way I believe that Dunedin’s decision to build a Chinese garden
commemorating those Chinese who flocked here in the Gold Rush more than 150 years ago has
helped shape Shanghai’s response to our sister city relationship.
In Shanghai, such unexpected recognition and kindness from a small, and hitherto insignificant
community, thousands of miles away and with a very different culture and lifestyle, has touched their
hearts.
The generosity of their unsolicited response, and the special regard they have for Dunedin – and by
extension NZ – has had consequences no one could have foretold or expected.
But then again any successful relationship needs that special and inexplicable ingredient – guanxi.
Dunedin and its sister city relationship with China’s economic giant Shanghai has truly been the open
window of opportunity for the developing friendship between New Zealand and China. In doing so it has
shown the way to the rest of the world. Long may that continue to be the case.
This address was prepared by Peter Chin of Dunedin and delivered by him to the Confucius Institute
University of Canterbury in Christchurch on the 24th of May, 2013