Facebook’s co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg met China’s propaganda tsar Liu Yunshan in Beijing on Saturday as part of a charm offensive in one of the few markets where the social network cannot be accessed.
The rare meeting, reported by China’s state news agency Xinhua, suggests warming relations between Facebook and the Chinese government, even as Beijing steps up censorship of and control over the Internet.
Liu, who sits on the Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee which is the apex of power in China, praised Facebook’s technology and management methods, Xinhua said.
Zuckerberg was in Beijing for the China Development Forum, a government-sponsored conference bringing together top business executives and the country’s ruling elite.
China “hopes (Facebook) can strengthen exchanges, share experiences and improve mutual understanding with China’s Internet companies”, Xinhua quoted Liu as telling Zuckerberg.
Earlier this year, Beijing introduced new rules on online publication, which analysts say may place further curbs on foreign internet businesses trying to operate in China.
Online content publishers should “promote core socialist values” and spread ideas, morals and knowledge that improve the quality of the nation and promote economic development.
Foreign companies in China, especially in media, face political pressure from a range of regulations. The country’s military newspaper calls the Internet the most important front in an ideological battle against “Western anti-China forces”.
Source: REUTERS
