Rep. Banks asks Carmel to withdraw sister city agreement with Chinese municipality

Indiana U.S. Rep. Jim Banks is asking the city of Carmel to withdraw its sister city agreement with Xiangyang in China.

The representative also asked for the refusal of any future trips organized by groups aligned with the ruling Chinese Communist Party in a letter sent to Carmel Mayor Sue Finkam on Tuesday.

“Carmel has a great opportunity to turn the page and hopefully lead the way by becoming the first of many Indiana cities to drop its sister city agreement and distance itself from the Chinese Communist Party,” Banks said in a news release.

Former Mayor Jim Brainard signed the sister city agreement in November during a 10-day tour of China. Finkam was elected mayor of Carmel in November after she was endorsed by Brainard, who held the position for nearly 30 years.

“We appreciate Congressman Banks raising this concern, and we agree that protecting Hoosiers should be our first priority,” reads a statement from Finkam. “As part of our transition, all agreements and contracts put in place by the previous administration, including sister city agreements, are currently under review.”

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Finkam also said Carmel officials have no plans for any travel to China and that the Chinese Communist Party will not have any influence over her administration or the city.

Banks, a member of the U.S. House’s Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said he sent the letter to Finkam after reading an article from The Washington Post about China’s courting of local American leaders.

“Chinese officials are seizing on opportunities to forge ties with mayors and other local American leaders, the kinds of connections that give Beijing leverage against an increasingly hostile government in Washington,” the article from The Washington Post reads.

In the letter to the new mayor, Banks wrote that Brainard’s trip was paid for by the U.S. Heartland China Association. Banks wrote that this organization has colloborated with Chinese state-sponosored organizations aiming to “infiltrate and influence the United States and other foreign governments.”

Carmel is not the only Indiana city to have a sister city agreement with a Chinese city. Others inlcude Indianapolis and Fort Wayne.

A sister city relationship between Carmel and Xiangyang was first established in 2012 to "create more educational, cultural and economic exchange opportunities," according to a city webpage.

Carmel also has sister city relationships with municipalities in Japan, Italty, Latvia, India, France and Germany.

Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Rep. Banks asks Carmel to withdraw Chinese sister city agreement