THE people of York didn’t vote to leave Europe: 58 per cent of us wanted to remain. Sadly, much of the rest of the country didn’t agree. So Brexit it will be.

That just makes it all the more more important for us to forge connections with other parts of the world, however.

Later this week, the Lord Mayor of York will fly out to China. He will visit three Chinese cities, flying the flag for York. And in one, Nanjing, he will be actively seek to promote closer relations with York.

There will be those who grumble that the Lord Mayor shouldn’t be wasting taxpayers money jaunting off to the other side of the world. To which there is a simple answer: he isn’t. The trip is being paid for by the Chinese side.

An important part of the Lord Mayor’s job is to act as an ambassador for his city. And that is precisely what Cllr Taylor will be doing.

As he points out, Selby Abbey and Castle Howard are already hugely popular destinations for Chinese tourists, having staged the wedding and reception respectively of the Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou.

York too is popular with Chinese visitors - partly thanks to the number of Chinese students studying here, who are clearly spreading the word. But anything we can do to establish stronger business and tourism links with the world’s second largest economy must be welcomed.

Nanjing is the perfect city for York to forge closer links with. Like York, it is an ancient walled city: like York, it was once a major capital. What’s more, the University of York already runs a joint spintronics/ nanotechnology research centre with Nanjing: so there’s a real base on which to build.

We wish the Lord Mayor well - and look forward to hearing the results of his visit.