Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/260548 
Title (translated): 
Urban diplomacy in the 2020s: More than a tale of two cities. City diplomacy and municipal partnerships between Germany, Europe and China. Implications for North Rhine-Westphalia
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
Working Papers on East Asian Studies No. 133
Publisher: 
University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute of East Asian Studies (IN-EAST), Duisburg
Abstract (Translated): 
This policy paper contributes to the topic of German-Chinese municipal partnerships, with a focus on the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). It first builds a bridge between the idea of town twinning and the future-oriented thematic complex of city diplomacy. Secondly, it looks at the connection between German-Chinese city partnerships and the topic of city diplomacy and deals with the change in the idea of partnership. Thirdly, it discusses the German-Chinese municipal partnerships in NRW, including school partnerships as part and parcel of citizens' exchange. Section 4 briefly looks at the first Sino-German twinning between Duisburg and Wuhan, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2022. Part 5 looks at the role of town twinning as an economic and cultural factor, and Part 6 at the question of current fields and contents of such partnerships. Section 7 deals with the challenges of German-Chinese municipal partnerships with regard to critical or "sensitive" issues, Part 8 with the current "China image" in Germany and the criticism of sub-national diplomacy concerning German-Chinese partnerships, before Point 9 draws a general conclusion.
Subjects: 
municipal partnerships
urban diplomacy
school partnerships
subnational diplomacy
Duisburg
AreaRuhr
North Rhine-Westphalia
German-China relations
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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