BEIJING: Chinese diplomats are increasingly turning to Twitter to defend Beijing’s policies to the international community, taking combative stances and courting controversy on a platform banned in their own country.
While Chinese officials typically stay away from sharing their views on social media, a strident tweetstorm from a Pakistan-based diplomat is raising eyebrows. Zhao Lijian, deputy chief of mission for the Chinese embassy in Pakistan, found himself in hot water this week after tweeting on racial disparity in Washington, saying "you know the white never go" to a certain area "because it’s an area of the black & Latin".
His tweet incited outrage from the former US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, who wrote on Monday: "You are a racist disgrace. And shockingly ignorant too." Zhao returned the mud-slinging on Twitter by calling Rice’s accusations "disgraceful & disgusting", but later deleted his original tweet.
It is not uncommon for politicians or state leaders to share their views or make important announcements on Twitter -- US President Donald Trump is a prime example -- but it is unusual to see Twitter diplomacy from Beijing.
Though Chinese state-run media outlets, such as People’s Daily and The Global Times, actively operate overseas accounts on Twitter and YouTube, the social media presence of Chinese officials is more limited. That’s in part because it "opens the doors to more comments -- and potential problems", said Elizabeth Economy, director for Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
"Foreign policy is very highly centralised in China," she told AFP. In general, Chinese diplomats "don’t go off on their own and deliver statements that have not been cleared". That being said, Chinese President Xi Jinping has "long argued that the West has for too long dominated the narrative about China overseas", she added.
"So now, not only is China trying to shape the narrative about China, but it’s also trying to shape a broader international narrative." Beijing bars Chinese citizens from accessing foreign social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, through its "Great Firewall" of internet censorship.