Which preposition after 'counterpart' will you prefer: for, to, with or about?
I saw a piece of news from reuters, a sentence in which goes as following:

......It is difficult to explain who the exact political counterpart would be to Party officials like Lu in many western countries. But, think of it this way—.......

I tried to look up the perpositions introducing to the item parallel to 'counterpart' in dictionaries, but failed. It seems that 'counterpart' is not often used this way.

But if there must be one to serve in this construction, I'd prefer FOR rather than TO. Dear English speakers, have you ever seen a preposition used in such a phrase? Or, which prep. would you think is appropriate in the phrase？

（Sourse story：http://qz.com/547695/chinas-corruption-crackdown-is-so-vast-top-officials-from-every-single-province-have-been-nabbed/ )

Question

Which preposition after 'counterpart'  will you prefer: for, to, with or about?
I saw a piece of news from reuters, a sentence in which goes as following:

......It is difficult to explain who the exact political counterpart would be to Party officials like Lu in many western countries. But, think of it this way—.......

I tried to look up the perpositions introducing to the item parallel to 'counterpart' in dictionaries, but failed. It seems that 'counterpart' is not often used this way.

But if there must be one to serve in this construction, I'd prefer FOR rather than TO. Dear English speakers, have you ever seen a preposition used in such a phrase? Or, which prep. would you think is appropriate in the phrase？

（Sourse story：http://qz.com/547695/chinas-corruption-crackdown-is-so-vast-top-officials-from-every-single-province-have-been-nabbed/ )

Answer

You are supposed to say counterpart "to" sth.
I don't know how to expain it in English correctly. Maybe it's just like "something that corresponds to it." " similar reference to sth." or "analogue of sth."
for example "In practice the US is the only economy large enough, flexible enough, and open enough to act as the counterpart to the net current account surpluses accumulated by the rest of the world. "
You may see the preposition "for" in the same sentence with Counterpart. But I guess it has its own meaning and nothing to do with the word "Counterpart".

Answer

Hi There

I think the most common usage is to use a possessive pronoun + 'counterpart' + in

Would you like to meet your counterpart in our school?

The example story you gave uses 'in' as the proposition. It is just a little delayed because of the extra information that is added:

"It is difficult to explain WHO the exact political counterpart would be to Party officials like Lu IN many western countries"

Let me simplify it:

"It is difficult to explain WHO the counterpart would be IN many western countries"

Answer

Thank you, Anita and Bill!

Answer

"to'" is the correct preposition.  It's easier to see this if you rephrase the sentence "It is difficult to explain who the exact political counterpart to Party Officials like Lu would be.....

Answer

The preposition "to"will be used... as one thing is put up against another.