The decision made at Tuesday night's council meeting has since drawn the ire of councillors, residents and community leaders alike, with many calling for the "appalling" motion to be overturned.

Wagga mayor Greg Conkey said "unusual and unfortunate circumstances" allowed three councillors -Tim Koschel, Paul Funnell and Yvonne Braid - to successfully pass a motion four days ago, which "completely misrepresents" the city.

Cr Conkey was absent at the meeting due to illness and two councillors - Dallas Tout and Kerry Pascoe - each declared a conflict of interest, removing themselves from voting.

The meeting's acting chairman was drawn at random and Cr Koschel used his casting vote to break the three-all deadlock.

However, the councillors will meet again on Wednesday to consider a motion to overturn the outcome that has drawn community backlash and worldwide attention.

Councillor Koschel, who played a key role in severing ties with Kunming, sensationally backtracked on his decision. He said he had "made a mistake" by allowing his emotions caused by the current coronavirus environment to drive his decision-making.

"I did have a gut feeling ... that I might have gone too far," he said.

Councillor Funnell, who initiated the original motion, said he anticipated an immediate rescission motion and an extraordinary meeting as soon as the decision had been made.

"I never expected this to get up and I have stated publicly I thought it would struggle to get a seconder," he said.

The Chinese Consulate-General in Sydney has criticised the allegedly "slanderous remarks" made by some councillors at the last council meeting.

The spokesperson said some councillors made "false claims that China had lied to the world" about the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak.

"The false claim by the councillor of the Wagga City Council is a complete misrepresentation of the truth and done with ulterior motives," they said.

The spokesperson said the consulate-general regrets that a "unilateral" decision calling to sever a friendship with the city of Kunming has "caused damages to the atmosphere and foundation for exchanges and cooperation" between the two sister cities.

They said it does not serve the interests of Wagga and a number of the city's councilors have clearly expressed their opposition to the decision.

"We urge the Wagga City Council to take China's position and concerns seriously, to immediately overturn this decision, handle these issues in an appropriate way, and effectively restrain individual city councillors from spreading further misinformation and taking wrongful actions, so as not to cause further negative impact to the overall cooperation between the two sides," they said.

Richard McGregor, a senior fellow at the international think-tank Lowy Institute, said it was "absolutely true that China mishandled" the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak with an "initial cover-up at a local level".

The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus happened in Wuhan, which is about 1567 kilometres away from Kunming.

However, Mr McGregor said it was a "strange reaction' by the councillors to express their annoyance in this manner.

He said the decision strikes him as a "symbolic gesture" that will not have the intended impact.

"Tell them face-to-face what your criticism is and don't shy away from being critical," he said. "Severing the relationship does not strike me as very smart because they will not be able to put it back together.

He also questioned the reason behind this motion and the decision to single-out Kunming from the other two sister cities in the United States and Germany.

Mr McGregor said any international issues could be used as a pretext to sever ties with any country.

"Kunming - just like any other city in China - is under the Communist party, but it has nothing to do with what happened in Wuhan," he said.