Dutch Cities Sever Ties With Chinese Sister Cities in Uncoupling From Communist Regime

Read More

At least 8 municipalities and 2 provinces in the Netherlands have severed ties with their Chinese sister municipalities as Dutch public representatives strive to uncouple from communist China, according to a new report. Many other Dutch cities and regions are reconsidering such relationships.

Some 35 local authorities in the Netherlands currently have sister-city relationships or “bonds of friendship” with Chinese counterparts for trade and cultural exchange. According to a survey conducted by the Dutch “Rotterdam Handelsblatt” (NRC) on municipalities, a quarter of such partnerships have been annulled in the past two years alone due to differences in fundamental values. And more Dutch cities are preparing to sever their ties with China, according to the NL Times.

Some city authorities have cited China’s human rights abuses as one of the main reasons for breaking ties, such as the genocide of the Uyghur minority in China’s Xinjiang region, or the persecution of Falun Gong.

Dutch municipalities such as Breda, Tilburg, and Eindhoven severed ties with their Chinese sister cities at the insistence of local councils, according to the report.

The city of Arnhem ended its sister-city relationship with the central Chinese city of Wuhan in 2021. “We must respect the principles of democracy, the rule of law, freedom of the press and expression,” said Mayor Ahmed Marchouc of Arnhem.

In addition, Dutch universities “are also increasingly reluctant to accept PhD students with scholarships subsidized by the Chinese government”—with knowledge security listed as the main reason. The Netherlands is also home to strategically important manufacturing companies—such as ASML, which manufactures machines used to produce high-end computer chips.

The logo of ASML Holding is pictured on the company’s headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands, on Jan. 23, 2019. (Eva Plevier/Reuters)

The Dutch report came out at the same time as the CCP’s vice chair, Han Zheng, was visiting Portugal and the Netherlands from May 7 to 12.

The UK, Sweden, and the Czech Republic had already severed sister-city relationships with Chinese cities since the COVID-19 pandemic due to China’s human rights abuse.

The German city-port of Kiel is currently re-evaluating its sister-city invitation from the Chinese port of Qingdao due to security and potential espionage concerns.

After World War II, European cities in democratic countries began to establish relationships based on shared values and culture with a view to boosting trade and cooperation as part of their post-war recovery. In 1954, the United States founded the ‘Sister Cities’ program for worldwide peace and development.

Communist states, however, have since used their sister-city relationships with western municipalities to advance their agendas.

According to official data from the Chinese communist regime, from 1973 to 2015, the CCP had established sister city (and province) relations with 1,450 cities and 473 provinces in 133 countries.

A British man signs a petition calling on UK city councils to sever ties with their sister cities in China, at a rally against the CCP in Newcastle, England, on Oct. 1, 2022. (Ai Ping/The Epoch Times)

The Epoch Times columnist Cheng Xiaorong wrote in an earlier article: “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses these twin-city relations to export communist ideology, spread the CCP’s propaganda, lies, and false information, strengthen its infiltration [into the international community], and seize economic benefits.”

Since 2008, the CCP has held biennial meetings on the subject of International Friendship Cities. At the first meeting, the then president of the Chinese Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries clearly put forward the concept of “urban diplomacy,” emphasizing that such diplomacy should be subordinate to and serve the CCP’s diplomacy. Since then, international friendship cities have been regarded by the top leaders of the CCP as the one of their main channels for building diplomatic relationships.

On Dec. 28, 2016, the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CCP published its “Notice of the Party Group of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries on the Inspection and Rectification Situation,” stating that “people-to-people diplomacy should better serve the central work of the Party and the state.”