Monday August 6 7:37 AM ET

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The idea is noble: Two different communities, separated by miles and culture, collaborate as sister cities, fostering economic development and cultural understanding.

But some people question whether human rights take a back seat.

Hundreds of U.S. cities have foreign sister cities, but it is the ones whose counterparts are in China - a country criticized for human rights conditions - where scrutiny has been most intense.

Groups like Amnesty International say everyone doing business with China, even local politicians and businessmen, should use their access to address human rights concerns. Some U.S. city officials say that's best left to the federal government.

After the Erie Times-News reported last week that Erie's sister city, Zibo, is home to as many as four forced labor camps, officials in Erie are debating how - or if - to address that.

[...]

But Rick Halperin, a project coordinator with Amnesty International, said sister cities should use their access to foreign leaders to discuss human rights.

"It is fair for jurisdictions - be they town councils, cities or states - to raise the issue and visibility of human rights as a major concern,'' he said, adding that he's not sure that's being done as much as it could.

"Economic development and economic gain have sadly taken priority over the issues of human rights and that is just wrong,'' Halperin said. "The two are linked.''

When Lansing, Mich., paired with Sanming, China, in October 1997, Mayor David Hollister wrote to Sanming officials and China's U.S. ambassador about China's record.

"We don't want to pretend that it isn't an issue,'' Hollister said. "We were not going to formalize the relationship unless we registered our concern about human rights.''

[...]

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010806/us/sister_cities_2.html