{"id":604575,"date":"2026-05-20T03:25:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T03:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=604575"},"modified":"2026-05-20T03:25:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T03:25:00","slug":"house-lawmaker-introduces-legislation-to-expose-ccp-exploitation-of-sister-city-agreements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=604575","title":{"rendered":"House Lawmaker Introduces Legislation To Expose CCP Exploitation Of Sister City Agreements"},"content":{"rendered":"

House Lawmaker Introduces Legislation To Expose CCP Exploitation Of Sister City Agreements<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

A House lawmaker has introduced legislation to prevent foreign adversaries, particularly the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), from exploiting sister city partnerships and jeopardizing U.S. national security.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) speaks during a campaign event with Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Jan. 14, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu\/The Epoch Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who serves on the House Judiciary Committee, introduced the Sister City Transparency Act (H.R.8833) on May 14. In a statement announcing the bill, Roy\u2019s office said local governments across the United States maintain roughly 1,800 sister-city partnerships with foreign municipalities, including 157 with communities in China.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica\u2019s local communities should never be left vulnerable to foreign influence operations masquerading as cultural exchange,\u201d Roy said in a statement on May 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sister City Transparency Act brings much-needed oversight and accountability to these partnerships, helping ensure they serve the interests of the American people\u2014not the strategic ambitions of the Chinese Communist Party or other foreign adversaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Study on Sister City Partnerships<\/h2>\n

The legislation would direct the comptroller general\u2014the head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)\u2014to conduct a study of sister-city partnerships with communities in countries deemed to have \u201csignificant public sector corruption,\u201d including Russia and China, the lawmaker\u2019s office explained. According to the language of the bill, the measure would specifically target countries that scored 45 or lower on Transparency International\u2019s 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index.<\/p>\n

China scored 41 in the 2019 index and 43 in the 2025 index.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The study would identify how foreign communities select U.S. communities for sister city partnerships, including whether certain economic activities or demographic factors influence those decisions; analyze the activities conducted in these partnerships and their economic and educational outcomes; review what types of information these partnerships make publicly available, including details related to contracts; and review how American communities \u201csafeguard freedom of expression\u201d and mitigate risks such as \u201cforeign espionage and economic coercion\u201d within these partnerships, according to the legislation.<\/p>\n

Another part of the study would look into whether these partnerships involve economic arrangements that could make American communities \u201cvulnerable to malign market practices\u201d or educational arrangements that could \u201cdiminish the freedom of expression,\u201d according to the legislation. Additionally, it would assess the extent of foreign access to local commercial, educational, and political institutions, and whether foreign actors could achieve \u201cstrategic objectives\u201d contrary to U.S. economic or national security interests.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The legislation would also require a study of whether these partnerships are linked to broader foreign malign activities, such as \u201chuman rights abuses and academic and industrial espionage,\u201d and how U.S. communities can prevent misuse of visa programs connected to them, according to the legislation.<\/p>\n

The comptroller general would have six months to submit a report on its study to six congressional committees, including the armed services and foreign affairs committees in both chambers. The report would include findings, conclusions, recommendations, and, if necessary, a classified annex.<\/p>\n

Concerns Over CCP Influence<\/h2>\n

\u201cThe CCP has demonstrated a pattern of exploiting international partnerships to expand influence, gather intelligence, and apply political pressure. Similar to concerns raised with Confucius Institutes, sister city relationships can create vulnerabilities for American communities, including exposure to foreign espionage, economic coercion, and ideological influence operations,\u201d Roy\u2019s office stated.<\/p>\n

Similar legislation (S.1351) was introduced in the Senate in April 2025 by Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunist 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,\u201d Blackburn said in a statement at the time. \u201cThis legislation would shine a bright light on these partnerships to keep our enemies from furthering their own dangerous agendas.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nTue, 05\/19\/2026 – 23:25<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House Lawmaker Introduces Legislation To Expose CCP Exploitation Of Sister City Agreements Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), A House lawmaker has introduced legislation to prevent foreign adversaries, particularly the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), from exploiting sister city partnerships and jeopardizing U.S. national security. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) speaks during a… Continue reading House Lawmaker Introduces Legislation To Expose CCP Exploitation Of Sister City Agreements<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":604576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-604575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=604575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/604576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=604575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=604575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=604575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}