Rep. Chip Roy from Texas is advocating for a new bill aimed at encouraging the General Accounting Office (GAO) to examine sister city agreements in the U.S. The focus will be on ensuring transparency and oversight, particularly with countries known for significant public sector corruption, like China and Russia.
Roy’s initiative, named the Sister Cities Transparency Act, would task the U.S. Comptroller General with investigating these partnerships, especially those involving expatriate communities from nations that received a score under 45 on Transparency International’s 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index.
He intends to introduce this bill on Thursday.
The Auditor General is expected to deliver a report outlining the findings, conclusions, and any recommendations to the relevant parliamentary committee within six months of starting the investigation. The report may also include classified information if deemed necessary.
Across the United States, there are approximately 1,800 sister city partnerships with foreign communities, of which 157 are linked to Chinese communities, according to a summary of the bill shared with Breitbart News. The review aims to scrutinize partnerships with nations that exhibit notable public sector corruption like China and Russia.
The documents suggest that while these partnerships are intended to enhance cultural exchanges and foster economic cooperation, they are increasingly leveraged by foreign adversaries, particularly the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), to further strategic goals under the façade of soft diplomacy. Moreover, the CCP has a history of utilizing international alliances to gain influence, gather intelligence, and exert political pressure.
Congressman Roy emphasized to Breitbart News, “Our local communities must never be exposed to foreign influence tactics disguised as cultural exchange. The Sister Cities Transparency Act will introduce essential oversight, ensuring these partnerships benefit the American people rather than furthering the goals of the Chinese Communist Party or any other foreign adversaries.”
The bill characterizes a “sister city partnership” as an official agreement between a U.S. community and a foreign community recognized by International Sister Cities and based in the U.S. A “U.S. community” refers to a state, county, city, or any other governmental unit, while a “foreign community” is defined as a subnational governmental unit located outside the U.S.
According to the bill, the GAO’s study would pinpoint criteria for foreign communities to qualify U.S. communities for twinning. This includes aspects relating to the “significant economic activity and demographics” of those communities. It will also evaluate the outcomes of activities linked to these partnerships in terms of economic and educational impact, and examine the availability of public information regarding contracts and operations. The study will assess how well American society upholds freedom of expression and diminishes the risks of “foreign espionage and economic coercion.”
Additionally, the bill calls for the GAO to evaluate whether these partnerships involve economic agreements that could expose U.S. communities to detrimental market practices or educational agreements that may limit freedom of expression. It will also look into the degree to which these alliances provide foreign nationals access to local commercial, educational, and political systems.
In a separate focus, the GAO is set to explore whether foreign communities use sister city partnerships to seek “strategic objectives that do not align with the economic and national security interests of the United States,” including involvement in harmful global activities like “human rights abuses and espionage,” as well as the potential misuse of visa programs by foreign nationals engaged in sister city initiatives.
