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A group of Republican senators is pressing District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser for answers about the city’s “sister city” partnership with Beijing, citing national security concerns.
Led by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), the senators sent a letter to Bowser on Oct. 24, questioning why Beijing was removed from the city’s list of sister cities on its
website in August, without any formal announcement. They asked the mayor whether the city’s sister city agreement “has been formally terminated or merely suspended.”
“Given the national security implications, we believe it is important to ensure that all formal and informal agreements between U.S. and foreign municipalities are not exploited by foreign governments—particularly the People’s Republic of China—as vehicles to advance soft-power objectives, disseminate propaganda, or suppress dissenting voices,” the senators wrote.
Currently, Beijing remains off Washington’s list of sister cities. However, U.S. nonprofit Sister Cities International
lists the two cities on its directory.
The senators requested that Bowser’s office provide copies of any current or past agreements, contracts, or memoranda of understanding between Washington and any Chinese government entity, including Beijing.
They also would like to know if Bowser’s office is “reviewing or reassessing other international partnerships to ensure mitigation against potential risks.”
“We are certain you share our commitment to protecting U.S. communities from potential foreign influence and safeguarding American interests,” the lawmakers stated.
Other signatories of the letter are Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
“Communist China weaponizes its more than 150 sister-city relationships in the United States, including their relationship with our nation’s capital,” Cotton
wrote separately on X on Oct. 24.
“Mayors should think long and hard before signing these agreements, and should be transparent about what they entail.”
In response to request for comment from The Epoch Times, the mayor’s office said via email that the sister city agreement between Washington and Beijing expired in 2017.
China’s communist regime has been seeking to expand the sister city partnerships.
Xie Feng, China’s ambassador to the United States, in remarks delivered at the sixth U.S.–China Sister Cities Summit in Tacoma, Washington state, in July 2024,
urged the expansion of sister-city relationships on top of the existing 286 pairs of sister relationships at different levels.
There have been other congressional efforts to have the nation’s capital drop its “sister city” agreement with Beijing.
In June, Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), led a group of Republican colleagues in a
letter urging Bowser to reconsider the agreement. They explained that the original purpose of signing the agreement in 1984 was based on the hope that the CCP might “change for the better.” That hope, the House lawmakers noted, was “crushed” by the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. Continuing the agreement, they argued, would be “at odds with American values” and would legitimize “a regime actively working against those principles.”
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In July, Moolenaar and other House Republicans
introduced the District of Columbia Sister City Integrity Act. If enacted, it would require Washington to end existing sister city relationships with any jurisdiction in a “foreign adversary country,” a category that includes China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
In the same month, Blackburn
introduced the Senate version of the District of Columbia Sister City Integrity Act.
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Blackburn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) also introduced the Sister City Transparency Act in April. According to a
statement from Blackburn’s office, the legislation would require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study of sister city partnerships between U.S. and foreign communities, particularly with “countries with significant public sector corruption” such as China and Russia, to evaluate their oversight practices, transparency measures, and potential risks of foreign espionage and economic coercion.
When Blackburn introduced the Sister City Transparency Act in March 2021, then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) was one of its original cosponsors.
“Beijing has a history of conducting its malign activities by exploiting cultural and economic partnerships,” Rubio said in a
statement at the time. “This means that sister city partnerships require further scrutiny.”
“I look forward to working with my colleagues across the aisle to pass this bill, which will provide greater transparency on the CCP’s on-going efforts to conduct influence operations in the U.S.”
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Udumbara
