By Clara Cheung, Former Hong Kong District Councilor, The Convenor of The UK-EU committee of The Assembly of Citizens’ Representatives, Hong Kong, and a member of World Liberty Congress.
For diaspora activists dedicated to freedom and democracy, the fight against authoritarian influence often feels like a battle on distant, national, or international stages. Yet, an easy-overlooked front exists right in our backyards with the local governments. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long exploited this blind spot, expertly leveraging its “United Front” networks to embed its political agendas into seemingly innocent cultural and economic exchanges at the municipal level.
It is essential for activists to expand our frontlines. By engaging directly with local councils and city committees, diaspora communities can achieve impacts that not only safeguard their local security, but also influence broader national foreign policy and raise public awareness about transnational repression.
(I) City and Local Councils: The CCP’s Gateway for Soft Power
The CCP’s “United Front Work” strategy excels at cultivating relationships at the lowest levels of society, from community groups and cultural associations to local chambers of commerce and city councils. Ariane Gottlieb and Justin Daniels, researchers of modern authoritarian governments, in their previous jointly published article “The Risks of Engagement with China’s Sister Cities”, indicated that “Sister City” or “Twin City” relationships of China are managed through bodies such as the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, which is linked to the United Front work that cultivates “foreign friends” and influences diaspora communities. [1] Agreements sometimes even include political conditions (like affirming “One China” concerning Taiwan), and China usually uses these ties to pressure local officials, encourage self-censorship, and retaliate when cities resist, as seen in disputes involving Prague and cases in which Taiwanese symbols being erased. [1]
In short, these local-level ties are framed as merely economic and cultural partnerships, to disseminate CCP propaganda, normalise its political narratives, and create political leverage that silences local scrutiny of China’s human rights record. This is where the power of local advocacy becomes important.
(II) The Sheffield Story with the Hong Kong Diaspora
The experience of the Hong Kong diaspora in Sheffield, UK, offers a testament to the effectiveness of grassroots activism. Over the past five years, Hong Kongers in Sheffield, including myself, tried to scrutinise the local council’s ties with cities in China.
Reviewing Sister City Ties
Through persistent public questions and petitions to the Sheffield City Council since 2022, Hong Kongers raised serious concerns about the city’s various partner relationships with Anshan, Chengdu, and Nanchang in China. This sustained pressure forced the council to undertake a full review of its “international city relationship” policy two years ago. As a result: Sheffield ended its official sister city relation with Anshan and ended its partner relation with Nanchang. Crucially, the new international policy explicitly commits the council to prioritising human rights when considering future international partnerships. [1], [2]
This creates an essential monitoring opportunity for us to follow up on the Chengdu relationship, as this capital of Sichuan Province is one site where human rights violations occur frequently. Examples include the recent arrest of the leaders of Early Rain Covenant Church [3] , the arrest of Chengdu female writer for publishing homosexual novels in the “Haitang Incident” [4], ethnic profiling and discriminatory surveillance practices of Uyghurs in public spaces in Chengdu [5]. Besides bringing the human rights issues to the Councillors and the concerned citizens in Sheffield, Hong Kongers also urge the Council to raise the matters with relevant departments or authorities, e.g., the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the Consulate of China’s embassy, and also to encourage the Council to engage in cultural exchange with the suppressed groups in Chengdu, because we believe a true cultural exchange should reveal what the people of Chengdu want to express, not only a superficial diplomatic cultural display.
Challenges to Ethical Engagement
Despite the successes in reviewing the sister city ties, recent interactions highlight the persistent challenge. In our informal meeting with Sheffield Council’s officers for the International Lead (in April 2026), it is clear that the officers prioritised “economic and business opportunity” over human rights concerns. This was evident in their plan to send a representative on a business mission to China, including Chengdu and also Hong Kong, a city not officially twinned with Sheffield, yet where the human rights situation is rapidly deteriorating (e.g. the imprisonment of British citizen and pro-democracy journalist Jimmy Lai). When challenged that this mission could be seen as a politically significant endorsement of the authoritarian HK-CCP government, council officers could only reiterate the potential for business gains, failing to provide an ethical justification. This reveals a clear gap between the council’s stated human rights policy and its economic motivations, which activists must continue to bridge, for example, by pushing for genuine cultural exchange with suppressed groups in Chengdu. This reality underscores the vital role of Sheffield residents in continually presenting the truth about human rights issues to the elected councillors, who ultimately possess the authority to alter policy and influence the attitudes of local government officers responsible for implementing the international strategies.
The National Security-Local Procurement Nexus
Besides the sister city policy, Sheffield Hong Kongers also broadened our focus beyond human rights to address immediate security concerns, by highlighting the security risks associated with Hikvision CCTV cameras, namely the backdoors accessible by the CCP authorities, and urging the council to review the surveillance systems used across the city. In 2024, we proposed a cost-effective solution, suggesting changing routers to mitigate the immediate risk. The Sheffield City Council agreed to follow suit, launching a review and system update. (ref: The related public question and response [6] ) This campaign demonstrates how local advocacy can translate high-level geopolitical security concerns (transnational repression) into practical, implementable local policy.
(II) The Wider Impact of the Sister City Policies
The policy change in the sister city relationship between Sheffield and China is not isolated. It has been a larger “detwin-with-China” campaign that was supported by a few different cities across the UK. Bath and Newcastle both ended their sister city relationships with China in 2022, demonstrating the persuasive power of local concerns. Most recently, in December 2025, Nottingham City Council decided not to renew its sister city relationship with Ningbo.
These examples prove that the efforts of diaspora groups at influencing municipal policy are not merely symbolic. They can create a chain reaction, slowly urging local authorities to confront the ethical and security dimensions of their global engagements, ultimately contributing to a shifting national conversation about foreign influence.
Beyond the Twin City: Exposing the United Front
The need to focus locally extends far beyond twin city arrangements. As detailed in Martin Thorley’s new book, All That Glistens, the CCP’s United Front operations have infiltrated British societies at numerous levels, often masked as educational, cultural, or business initiatives. [8]
Local government advocacy is one of the ways to target this infiltration. By scrutinising trade missions, procurement contracts, and cultural exchange programs, activists can:
- Demand Transparency and Accountability: Compel councils to publish full risk assessments covering human rights, National Security Law environments, and diversion-risk exposure.
- Establish Ethical Codes of Conduct: Push for local policies that mandate ‘No Platforming’ of entities implicated in repression and enforce mandatory end-user screening for participating local firms.
- Raise Public Awareness: Every successfully challenged council decision, every public question raised, generates media attention and forces local residents, businesses, and politicians to confront the reality that China’s United Front strategies are actively operating within their community.
The frontline of the fight against transnational authoritarian influence is not just in London, Washington, or other capital cities. It is in Sheffield, Nottingham, and every municipal assembly hall across the free world. I hereby would like to invite other members of the World Liberty Congress and diaspora activists to untap the power of their local communities. Together, we can dismantle the CCP’s soft power networks at multiple cities, across borders.
Footnotes and References:
[1] A document relating to the partner city relationship with cities in China, prepared by the local government officers as Item 13 (International Update) for the Strategy and Resources Policy Committee meeting held on Wednesday 21 February 2024:
Sheffield City Council, “Overview of Sheffield’s International Relationships,” https://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/documents/s66029/Item+13+Appendix+A+v4.pdf.
[2] Sheffield City Council’s Partner City Policy in 2024 indicated the importance of human rights values in the Assessment Criteria for Decision Making for city partnership:
Sheffield City Council, “Partner City Policy FINAL – February 2024,” 2024, https://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/documents/s66457/Partner%20City%20Policy%20FINAL%20-%20February%202024.pdf.
[3] Ariane Gottlieb and Justin Daniels, “The Risks of Engagement with China’s Sister Cities,” Power 3.0: Understanding Modern Authoritarian Influence, June 7, 2023, https://www.power3point0.org/2023/06/07/the-risks-of-engagement-with-chinas-sister-cities/.
[4] “China: Early Rain Pastor Wang Yi and His Wife Arrested,” BBC News, January 5, 2026,https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgl8jgdxypo.
[5] “Police in China Arrest Female Writers over Homosexual Novels,” ABC News, June 12, 2025, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-12/police-in-china-arrest-female-writers-over-homosexual-novels/105403258.
[6]“China Uses AI Cameras to Monitor Uyghurs, Reports German Media,” ANI News, June 16, 2024, https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/china-uses-ai-cameras-to-monitor-uyghurs-reports-german-media20240616214833/.
[7] Written response to Public Questions 24 July 2024, Sheffield City Council, https://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/documents/s70559/Written%20response%20to%20Public%20Questions%2024%20July2024.pdf.
[8] Martin Thorley, All That Glistens: Chinese Party-State Influence in Britain (London: Hurst, 2026) (https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/all-that-glistens)
