Citing concerns over potential foreign espionage and economic coercion, particularly from Communist China, U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) have introduced the Sister City Transparency Act.
The legislation aims to shed light on the agreements and activities of sister city partnerships across the United States.
“Communist China is exploiting sister city partnerships to achieve its own strategic objectives, and we need to make certain we are not enabling this activity in our own communities,” said Senator Blackburn. “This legislation would shine a bright light on these partnerships to keep our enemies from furthering their own dangerous agendas.”
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Echoing this sentiment, Senator Tillis added, “This commonsense bill is an important step towards protecting our security and economy by studying our sister city partnerships with cities across the world. We must ensure sister city partnerships don’t expose us to harmful market practices, limit free speech, or support foreign interests that undermine our values.”
The United States currently maintains approximately 1,800 sister city relationships globally, including 157 with communities in China. These partnerships are traditionally intended to foster cultural exchange and promote economic development at the local level. However, concerns have been raised that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is increasingly leveraging these connections for geostrategic gain.
Lawmakers point to the CCP’s history of employing “soft diplomacy” and offering mutual benefits until partner entities exhibit political dissent. This approach, similar to concerns surrounding Confucius Institutes on college campuses, raises fears that sister city partnerships could inadvertently create vulnerabilities to foreign espionage and ideological influence within American communities.
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A key challenge in assessing these risks is the current lack of transparency surrounding sister city partnerships. Information regarding their agreements, activities, and personnel often remains private, hindering effective oversight and potentially enabling malicious activities to go undetected.
The Sister City Transparency Act seeks to address this information gap by mandating a comprehensive report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). This report would specifically examine partnerships involving foreign communities in countries identified as having significant public sector corruption, such as Communist China and the Russian Federation.
The GAO study would be tasked with:
- Identifying oversight practices: Analyzing the measures currently implemented by U.S. communities to mitigate the risks of foreign espionage and economic coercion within their sister city partnerships.
- Assessing malign activity potential: Evaluating the extent to which foreign communities could utilize these partnerships to conduct harmful activities, including academic and industrial espionage.
- Reviewing best practices: Recommending strategies to enhance transparency concerning the agreements, activities, and employees involved in sister city partnerships.
By introducing this legislation, Senators Blackburn and Tillis aim to provide greater clarity and accountability to these long-standing international relationships, ultimately seeking to safeguard U.S. national security and economic interests from potential foreign exploitation.
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