The timing of Gunnedah’s venture into the international no doubt seems bizarre to the rest of Australia.

As a petition against the Shenhua Watermark mine tops 50,000 signatures and sentiment against the Breeza mine runs high on the airwaves and social media, 17 Gunnedah representatives are in China, taking the relationship to the next level.

How did it happen that this tour is taking place just as the Shenhua Watermark debate reaches fever pitch?

Most of it is unfortunate timing.

The idea of a Chinese Sister City did indeed come through discussions with Shenhua officials last year.

But Gunnedah Shire mayor Owen Halser has said the Sister City relationship is not contingent on mine approval.

The trip has been, as these things have to be, quite a long time in the planning and members of the tour have been taking part in Chinese language lessons ahead of their departure.

Representatives are paying their own way and spending more than three days in the Linhe District meeting with officials of that area.

The reason this district that most of us have never heard of was chosen was because of its size – it might not be small population-wise by our standards, but it is by Chinese standards. It also has similarities with Gunnedah, with both mining and agriculture in the district.

One of these mines is a Shenhua mine.

While it is easy to question the selection of somewhere in China as our first international – or even interstate – Sister City, there are advantages whatever happens with Shenhua.

Whatever you might think of the Shenhua Watermark mine, Shenhua have been obliged to spend about eight years in the Gunnedah community and have already spent about $800 million on this project.

Gunnedah community groups and facilities have benefited from Shenhua’s presence long before any sort of construction has started.

We have now had a link with China for all of those years.

Even if Shenhua decides it’s all too much and packs its bags for home tomorrow, or the mine, in the absolute 11th hour, fails to get its plans through the planning process, China is still not a bad place to have Sister City ties with.

China has been identified as the world’s latest superpower. It has arguably the world’s biggest economy.

Becoming a Sister City is not the same as becoming a satellite of another country. Gunnedah will remain our Gunnedah. This is more like friends – with benefits.