Dublin's Lord Mayor, Mr Maurice Ahern, said this evening he is in talks with Chinese authorities about plans to twin Dublin with Beijing.
Mr Ahern told ireland.comtwinning was being "discussed but not decided" but Amnesty International have described the idea as "dreadfully inappropriate".
Although Mr Ahern said a trade link with Beijing - which has 16 million of a national population of 1.2 billion - was potentially advantageous, he admitted he was concerned at China's human rights record.
He cited the Tiananmen Square massacre as a major hurdle to twinning the two capitals but suggested it may be better on a human rights level to cooperate with China rather than isolate the country.
Mr Brian Dooley of Amnesty International said: "cities with poor records, in this case poor human rights records, who are in desperate need of positive PR immediately think that twinning with Dublin is going to do them some good - because Dublin has such a marvellous and deserved reputation.
"We do not think the people of Dublin want to be associated with the government officials of Beijing - it is nothing to do with the people of Beijing," said Mr Dooley.
The Lord Mayor said he will take a four-day trip to the Chinese capital in May to meet the Chinese ambassador to Ireland and someof the city's eight vice-mayors.
He said he was still in the talks phase and had been visited by two of Beijing's vice-mayors in recent months.
The move would have to be approved by a vote of Dublin City Council, which the Lord Mayor chairs.