By Jianli Yang – July 26, 2020

China has been promoting sister-city alliance between selected Chinese cities and cities all around the world, ostensibly to promote people-to-people connectivity. But apprehensions have been expressed that Chinese motivation exceeds the promotion of cultural ties and it has a larger geostrategic objective.

Recent appointment of Li Songtian, the former ambassador of South Africa as the President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) further strengthens this belief. CPAFFC is the nodal agency responsible for forging these alliances. Though it is described as a kind of non-governmental organization, it’s closely associated with both the ruling Communist Party of China and the government. It is being said this new job has raised his position in the Foreign Ministry and he is probably being rewarded for being part of the so-called “wolf warriors” breed of diplomats. During his stint at Pretoria, he had been quiet vocal about the trade war with the United States, and had even started a Twitter account where he riled especially the right-wing media there. That he has several decades of experience in serving the Party in China fits the role of directing China’s foreign policy towards friendly nations.

In India and its neighborhood, for example, China has been quietly forging sister-city alliances with those countries that fit within its BRI expansionist policies, such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, besides India. China Communist Party (CPC) proposed to Bangladesh in May this year that it will get help in fighting Covid-19 pandemic if the country forms sister-city alliances with select Chinese cities or/and helps with China’s disinformation campaign about Covid-19. [Continue Reading]