Twitter Appoints Chief In China With Former Chinese Military Ties (nytimes.com) 17
An anonymous reader writes: The Sinosphere blog at the NYT reports that Twitter has appointed Kathy Chen as Chief for the Greater China Region. Ms. Chen served as an engineer in the Chinese military in the 1980s. After that, she was involved in a joint venture that was partly owned by the country's powerful domestic security ministry. She posted on Friday a message of cooperation to China Central Television, the state-run broadcaster. The language resembled President Xi Jinping's call to the Chinese media to "tell the China story well." Twitter has been and remains blocked in China by the "Great Firewall".Quartz has more details.
Well... (Score:2)
That'd be par for the course.
Re: (Score:2)
TFA is making a big deal about nothing. Plenty of people have served in the military (including me), and in America it is illegal to discriminate against veterans. It is also illegal to discriminate against active members of the National Guard and Reserves. Why should it be different in China? To succeed in China, Twitter needs to get some guanxi. This looks like a smart move.
But see... (Score:2, Informative)
You can't succeed in China if you're ethical. Just to start a business, everyone in the local government chain's got to be paid, or you'll have inspections of your business premise daily up to your anus. If you're even moderately successful (like, breaking even) the local street thugs (that are often one and same as the government officials) wants in on that action too. If you're connected, they'll just take their cut. If you're not... well, you can kiss that business of yours goodbye; they'll seize your bu
Re: (Score:2)
You can't succeed in China if you're ethical.
What is "ethical" depends on context. Both Americans and Chinese value honesty and loyalty, but there is a different emphasis. In America, it is considered wrong to use an official position to help your family and friends. That is because we put integrity above loyalty. But many Chinese would see it the other way around. Loyalty comes first. Using your position to help your relatives is not only acceptable, but often admired. In both societies there is a balance, but the fulcrum is in different posit
Freedom lost (Score:2, Insightful)
Between Government takeover/tracking, and political correctness, freedom of thought is quickly becoming a thing of the past.
Instead of the internet being a place to freely share ideas, we'll actually have to go old school, and meet face to face to share ideas freely.
Is there any other way? (Score:4, Interesting)