Taoyuan City, Taiwan could join the list of Long Beach’s sister cities—which includes Yokkaichi, Japan; Qingdao, China; Sochi, Russia; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and Mombasa, Kenya.
On Tuesday, the Long Beach City Council approved Taoyuan City’s sister city application. The council will vote on a formal resolution next week.
Sister Cities International was formed in 1956 during President Dwight Eisenhower’s White House conference on citizen diplomacy. The purpose of a Sister City is to form relationships with people of different cultures, to “celebrate their differences and build partnerships that would lessen the chance of new conflicts,” according to the Sister Cities of Long Beach Inc. (SCLB) website.
SCLB President Susan Redfield said the organization works with “thousands of Long Beach residents” from multiple backgrounds each year.
“It is our vision to continue serving as an international arm for our city and its leadership, and serving toward the betterment of the personal and economic future of Long Beach,” she said.
Those partnerships can also include business arrangements, like coordination with the Port of Long Beach. Los Angeles County is America’s top international trade gateway to Taiwan and is Taiwan’s top gateway to the United States, according to the agenda item. Los Angeles County also has the largest Taiwanese population of any county in the nation.
“Embracing Taoyuan City could provide a mutually beneficial exchange of business opportunities and strategies,” Councilmember Al Austin said. “Further, the exchange of culture may lead to enrichment for both of our cities.”
Austin noted that the city has hosted Taiwanese representatives on multiple occasions and that Taoyuan City sent Long Beach PPE supplies during shortages.
The addition of Taoyuan City would be Long Beach’s first new sister city since 2007, when Mombasa, Kenya joined the roster. The other cities joined between the ‘80s and ‘90s.
The process began in 2019, when the SCLB Board of Directors was approached by a group of Taiwanese nationals who wanted to add a Taiwanese sister city.
In June of that year, the SCLB received a presentation by the group and created a Taoyuan Sister City Formation Committee to explore the potential partnership.
In December 2020, the council approved the application to establish the sister city, but had not yet formalized the agreement.
“I’m always supportive of anything that allows us to do a mutually beneficial exchange for business opportunity, port strategies and obviously cultural enrichment with other countries,” Councilmember Suely Saro said.
Long Beach also has three “friendship cities”: Bacolod, Philippines; Venice, Italy; and Rosarito Beach, Mexico. These relationships were formed to “test the waters” before long-term Sister City relationships are formed, according to the SCLB website. Compared to Sister Cities, Friendship Cities are often short-term, less formal and focused on advancing a singular purpose.
