A PETITION asking Newport City Council to cut ties with a Chinese province until its bans a highly controversial festival involving the slaughter of dogs now has more than 20,000 signatures.

The petition, launched by 24-year-old Matthew James, is campaigning for the local authority to end a twinning arrangement between the city and Guangxi - home to the Yulin Dog Meat Festival.

The petition is set to be handed to the local authority, said Mr James, from Caerleon, after a further 8,000 people signed it in six days.

It bring the total number of signatures to more than 23,000.

Mr James said: “I wasn’t expecting such a response, not at all.

“I was just testing the waters with the petition - it was really just me expressing myself. To get more than 20,000 signatures has been really incredible.”

Mr James previously he would present his petition to Newport council when it reached 20,000 signatures.

(James Matthews, from Caerleon, started the petition a year ago)

He added this week: “I’ve been really busy at work but when I get a few spare minutes I will draft the letter and submit it from there.”

Due to the large amount of support that his petition has gained, Mr James hopes Newport council will consider it.

He said: “If there was just a few thousand people that had signed it then they would probably have ignored it. But given that it has got almost 25,000 signatures I hope they will at least consider it.

“It will be interesting to see the reaction it gets.”

READ MORE: Thousands ask Newport council to end ties with the home of the Yulin Dog Meat Festival

A spokeswoman for NCC explained the process of presenting the council with a petition, adding: “Petitions about policy issues should be handed in at the council’s reception desk where a receipt will be given.

“The petition will then be forwarded to the relevant head of service who will respond as appropriate following discussions with the relevant cabinet member.

“If an individual or group has provided notice, the relevant cabinet member may agree to receive the petition or may nominate the relevant officer to receive it.

“In such circumstances, the petition will be received by the relevant cabinet member or appointed officer in a location within the Civic Centre.

“A maximum of three people are allowed to present the petition inside the building to the officer.

“No photographs or filming will take place unless expressly agreed in advance. The individual or group can, of course, take photographs outside of the building.”

READ MORE: Meet the man behind the Yulin Dog Meat Festival petition

Unlike the festival the custom of dog eating in China can be traced back at least 400 years, and the act itself is not illegal in the country.

Reports suggest around 10 to 20 million are killed to be eaten by humans every year. But changing attitudes around pet ownership in China’s growing middle class have seen in-country demands for the festival to end, with Chinese activists and celebrities taking to social media to oppose it.

Though twinned with the the Chinese province, actual city contact with Guangxi is sparse. Representatives from Newport City Council last visited China in 1999, and a Chinese delegation visited Newport in 2004 for the National Eisteddfod held in the grounds of Tredegar House.

The RSPCA’s head of international, Paul Littlefair, said: “We strongly object to the annual Yulin Dog Meat Festival, in China, and to similar events which take place elsewhere.”

The petition can be found here.