Groups Targeted by Beijing Concerned About BC Town Pondering Sister City Agreement With China
Chinese paramilitary police officers who serve on the border between Hong Kong and Guangdong province prepare to take part in anti-riot training exercises in Shenzhen of southern China's Guangdong province on June 5, 2017
Human rights advocacy groups are expressing concern about the implications of a potential sister city agreement between Prince George, B.C., and Jiangmen, China, after the Canadian municipality welcomed representatives from the Chinese city last week.
The City of Prince George says representatives from the city of Jiangmen in Guangdong province, southern China, visited last week to “tour the community and consider establishing a sister city agreement.”
Sister city agreements are formal partnerships between municipalities in different countries that support economic development, trade, cultural and educational exchange, tourism, and international collaboration, Prince George noted in a May 11 news release.
The city also noted that a sister city agreement “does not create an automatic financial obligation.”
Critics of the agreements say Chinese authorities have increasingly used sister-city relationships not simply for cultural exchange, but to cultivate political influence, economic access, and relationships with local governments abroad as part of Beijing’s push to expand covert foreign influence operations.
Cheuk Kwan, co-chair of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China, told The Epoch Times that while sister city agreements are framed as cultural civic exchanges, China uses these agreements as “an inroad into foreign influence” in exchange for offering municipalities financial benefits.
While Jiangmen has a population of more than 4 million, Prince George only has roughly 77,000 residents, he noted. Kwan said he could not see any explanation for the Chinese making an agreement with a small city like Prince George aside from political reasons, adding that it would “certainly not” be for cultural reasons.
“You have to ask yourself, what’s the motivation? What [does China] gain from twinning up with Prince George?” Kwan said, adding that municipalities like Prince George should ask themselves why they are considering such an engagement which would only “accommodate hostile forces that are using these innocuous schemes to infiltrate and influence our governments.”
Sister city relationships date back to 1956, when U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower proposed forming this type of “citizen diplomacy” between individual U.S. communities and foreign cities to encourage cultural, educational, and business cooperation.
More than 100 Canadian cities have sister-city agreements with foreign municipalities, and in many cases these partnerships—such as those involving Victoria, Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Regina, Richmond, Saskatoon, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg—are with Chinese cities.
China has sought sister city agreements with foreign countries since the 1970s, and roughly 2,600 Chinese municipalities had foreign sister city agreements by 2019. The agreements increasingly expanded from friendly exchanges to the economic, cultural, and educational arenas, to also opening doors to ongoing influence by the Chinese regime by mobilizing overseas Chinese communities to advance its interests.
U.S. lawmakers have previously voiced concern that the Chinese communist regime could use sister city agreements as a means to carry out influence and espionage activities, and infiltrate Western culture to achieve Beijing’s economic ends.
‘Fallen Prey’
The City of Prince George said it has “historical ties” to the Chinese community and discussions with the Jiangmen representatives focused on Prince George’s “regional strength, economic development opportunities, education, industry, and future areas of cooperation.”
The Jiangmen delegation visited Prince George city hall, the University of Northern British Columbia, Northern Lights Estate Winery, and B.C. forestry giant Canfor, which has industrial facilities in Prince George.
Kwan noted that B.C. cities have “fallen prey to so-called Chinese investment” in recent years, in which China has sought land to build factories, to mine, or carry out other activities in exchange for financial commitments to the municipality.
While some provinces impose strict restrictions on foreign ownership of farmland, British Columbia has no such restrictions.
In reality, Kwan said, the Chinese regime uses sister city agreements with municipalities to gain resources and to conduct political influence operations. He noted this type of foreign influence happens “in front of our own eyes.”
Authorities in Prince Edward Island are currently investigating two organizations allegedly linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in relation to their land holdings in the province. The organizations have denied keeping ties to China and say their land holdings are below the province’s limit for foreign ownership, while critics argue the organizations could be tied to a single legal owner and would therefore exceed the limit.
A British man signs the petition calling on the British city government to server ties with their sister cities in China, at a rally against the CCP in Newcastle on Oct. 1. 2022.
‘Real Implications’
Landson Chan, advocacy officer of UK-based NGO Hong Kong Watch, told The Epoch Times that a sister city agreement with Jiangmen is “not a neutral cultural exchange,” but an “institutional relationship with real implications.”
“The idea that formal ties with Chinese government-linked entities are purely symbolic does not reflect the reality many of us face,” he said in an interview, noting that as a Hong Konger in exile himself, transnational repression is something his community lives with.
Chan also noted the timing of the potential sister city agreement is “hard to ignore,” given recent evidence of the Chinese regime interfering in Canadian affairs, such as the Chinese embassy in Canada publicly criticizing Canadian MPs for visiting Taiwan, and court documents revealing Chinese police operations targeting people living in Canada.
China’s ambassador to Canada, Wang Di, drew criticism from MPs for remarks he made in an interview with The Globe and Mail in late April, saying that it would be “hurtful” to Canada-China ties if Canadian parliamentarians conduct “any official engagement” with Taiwan. China views self-ruled Taiwan as a breakaway province, despite never having governed the island nation, and seeks to bring the island under its control.
Conservative MP Michael Chong arrived in Taiwan this week to meet with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, Taiwanese ministers, and officials at the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei in defiance of China’s warning. Chong said in a statement ahead of his trip that Canada is a “sovereign and independent country” that does not “take direction from a foreign government” about where parliamentarians can travel internationally.
After Chong’s arrival in Taiwan, a spokesperson for China’s embassy in Ottawa said Chong’s visit sent “a wrong message of support for Taiwan independence” and repeated that China opposes any countries maintaining formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Chan also referred to court documents filed in April during the trial of former RCMP officer William Majcher that revealed at least 25 Canadian residents were targeted by Chinese police under an “anti-corruption” program used to repatriate Chinese nationals abroad. They may have been forced to return to China against their will to face punishment for CCP-alleged financial crimes, with some potentially facing life imprisonment or a death sentence, according to the documents.
A 2022 report by Spain-based NGO Safeguard Defenders found at least 102 secret Chinese police stations in 53 countries, including at least five in Canada. A House of Commons report in 2023 also confirmed “at least five” illicit police stations were operating secretly in Canada.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has said the Chinese police stations serve in part to collect intelligence and monitor Chinese dissidents living in Canada as part of a “broader transnational anti-corruption, repression and repatriation campaign.”
The Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Ottawa in a file photo.
‘Totalitarian Nature’
The Epoch Times contacted the City of Prince George for comment on the rights groups’ concerns, but didn’t hear back by publication time.
The city said in the news release last week that if a sister city agreement is proposed, it would be presented to city council for consideration. Chan said that before Prince George city council moves forward, there needs to be a national security review and consultation with affected diaspora communities.
“This should not stop at Prince George,“ Chan said. ”Municipalities across Canada should be taking a hard look at existing sister city relationships, scrutinizing the role of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Toronto, and closing the gaps in foreign interference protections that have left communities vulnerable.”
In recent years, an increasing number of cities have terminated their sister city agreements with Chinese counterparts amid growing public awareness of the CCP’s interference and influence activities, such as municipalities in the Czech Republic, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
Hongkonger groups have previously spoken out against sister city agreements with the Chinese regime, urging 163 cities in seven countries, including Canada, to sever such relationships in a “Global Joint Campaign” in 2022.
The groups said the CCP uses sister city agreements to directly interfere in the sovereign affairs of other countries and to influence and promote CCP propaganda. One group also said China’s “notorious record” of human rights violations and non-compliance with international treaties highlights its “totalitarian nature,” but many countries “choose to turn a blind eye for economic benefits.”
A U.S. lawmaker introduced legislation last week to ensure sister city agreements serve the interests of the United States, not the “strategic ambitions” of foreign adversaries like the CCP, noting such agreements can expose communities to “foreign espionage, economic coercion, and ideological influence operations.”
In 2020, U.S. lawmakers sounded the alarm about the threats posed by sister city programs with the CCP, warning local U.S. governments to be vigilant against CCP influence and espionage activities. Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Chinese People’s Association of Friendship with Foreign Countries, which manages China’s sister city relationships, is part of China’s United Front Work Department, the CCP’s official overseas propaganda and foreign interference tool.
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