Prague, Czech Republic 

Prague’s detwinning is an example showing how China manipulates its supposedly-apolitical sister city agreements for identity politics and propaganda.  

In 2016, a month before a state visit to the Czech Republic by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Prague's previous administration approved a sister-city agreement with Beijing with a clause agreeing to the One China policy. The clause states: “The City of Prague confirms its continuous commitment to the One China Policy of the Government of the Czech Republic, and acknowledges that Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory.”  

Three years later, in late 2019, current Prague mayor Zdenek Hrib began calling for the “One China” clause to be eliminated from the agreement. “A sister-city agreement should not include things that are not related to the cities' relationship”, he said. Prague was unable to put the agreement's repeal into effect even though the city council approved it on October 7, 2019, as Beijing cancelled the deal prematurely on October 9, 2019. 

Later in January 2020, Prague approved a sister-city agreement with Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. Shortly after the announcement, Shanghai severed connections with Prague, which was established back in 2017. Shanghai said the decision was made as Prague touched upon China’s red line on Taiwan. Therefore, it would be reasonable to assume that China would not permit any of its sister-city agreements to be signed alongside Taipei or other Taiwanese cities. But the media found out that there are 12 cities which have partnerships with both Taiwanese and Chinese cities. 

This illustrates how Beijing politicises the apolitical town-twinning and twists the meaning of cultural exchange into propaganda-spreading.