Director of Twitter Greater China from People’s Liberation Army, What a Joke

Published in Huanqiu
(China) on 19 April 2016
by Renpin Shan (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Rachel Critelli. Edited by Kevin Uy.
Twitter announced last week that it has appointed Chen Kui as the first China managing director, causing a wave of intense protests among Chinese language Twitter circles. Chen’s self-written resume shows that she is 50 years old, has previously worked at Cisco and Microsoft as a senior officer in the Chinese offices, and was once was the president of Guanqun Jinchen Software Company, jointly founded by Computer Associates International, Inc., and the China Public Security Bureau. Some Twitter users have also dug up the fact that Chen previously worked at the First Research Center for the Second Artillery Force of the People’s Liberation Army.

Protesters universally point to Chen’s “suspect background,” worrying that this “ever-open tavern of freedom” will come under investigation, and that some Twitter users’ private information would no longer be protected. The media in Hong Kong and Taiwan have all participated in stirring up this topic by declaring that she “has a communist military background” and that Twitter has “been painted red.”

In addition, Twitter has not officially entered China’s Internet broadcast market. Among Twitter’s 30 million or more worldwide users, its circle of Chinese language users is a mere drop in the ocean when compared to China’s 70 million total Internet users and is a relatively marginal group of users within the website. Most of them are overseas Chinese, the most active of whom are a small group of users who stand against China’s political system. A small number of domestic political dissidents get into that small circle by using the “over the wall”* method, using it as a “personal space” to vent their feelings.

These people worry that one day Twitter will become China’s Weibo** and they are probably not kidding. But this view is extremely narrow and these people’s temperament is extreme, and jokes recognizing this fact are often made. As for what Chen Kui’s temperament is like, we have no knowledge, but Twitter is a mainstream Internet company in the United States, so its value trends, management and employment principals operate under the same logic as that of large Western companies, which is not hard to understand.

First, there is no difference between the American “properties” of Twitter and those of Google or Facebook, including Twitter’s basic political ideology, or the position it might take in the event of a conflict between China and the United States.

Second, Twitter, and all of its policy including employment practices, revolves around the principle of commercial profit. Previously, Twitter has said that the company currently has no intention to expand its group of Chinese language users, but it is actively pioneering its market for Chinese advertising, a statement which can be trusted. Last year, Twitter’s Chinese advertising clientele increased by over 200 percent, and with those kinds of numbers, I can understand why people would want to get a piece of the pie.

“President” Chen Kui ought to be called “marketing president” and probably won’t have anything to do with content investigation. After her appointment was announced, she gave friendly interviews with the English-language official Chinese media, which I think is not unrelated to her hopes to continue developing the Chinese advertising market and to leave a good impression on China.

Actually, radical Twitter users who oppose Chen Kui’s appointment are doing no harm to China. This matter is entirely between Twitter and its users and we don’t care if they hurt themselves. From an insider’s perspective, we are only interested in the extreme and laughable new display put on by the small group of international anti-China users, who make fun of them and recommend that the public read about them. The vigor with which these people “must rail against China at every instance” has already reached the point where a mainstream U.S. Internet company must send people to the Chinese market; they all want to dig up dirt and examine every inch to see if this person has previously been a “party person.” These people have so little self-confidence and so lack a sense of safety that they will continue to live among the fainthearted in the U.S. who are waiting for the heaven they promoted, which maybe is worth shedding a few tears over.

Will Twitter become China’s Weibo? Of course not. But if it wants to fully enter the Chinese market, then it must make adjustments with respect to following China’s laws, reasoning with which one cannot argue. I believe Twitter will continue to deliberate about how to maximize profits for its company.

The author is a commentator at Huanqiu Times.

*Translator’s note: Referring to VPN networks, “over the wall” is a euphemism that leaves real methods unspecified, the wall being “the great firewall.”

**Editor’s note: Weibo is the Chinese word for microblog and refer to the mini-blogging services in China including social chat sites and platform sharing. It uses a format similar to Twitter.


单仁平:“共军”执掌推特中国区,这噱头火爆
  美国互联网公司推特(Twitter)上周五宣布任命陈葵为大中华区总经理,在推特中文用户圈内引发一股激烈抗议潮。陈葵女士现年50岁,由她自己撰写的个人简历显示,她曾在美国思科、微软的中国公司任高管,并一度在美国国际联合电脑公司同中国公安部联合组建的“冠群金辰软件”公司任总经理。一些“推友”进一步挖出,陈葵曾在解放军二炮一研究所中任职7年。
  那些抗议普遍指向陈葵“背景可疑”,担心推特这个“永不打烊的自由小酒馆”从此也将遭到内容审查,一些“推友”的隐秘信息从此不保。港台媒体亦纷纷参与炒作,宣称大中华区一姐“有共军背景”,推特“被染红了”。
  推特并没有正式进入中国网络传播市场,它的全球3亿多用户中,中文用户圈跟国内7亿网民的规模比起来可谓“九牛一毛”,对整个网站来说属于比较边缘的用户群。他们大多是海外华人,其中最活跃的是敌视中国政治体制的那个小圈子。有少量国内政治异见者通过“翻墙”方式进入那个小圈子,把它当成发泄情绪的“自留地”。

  这些人担心推特有一天会变成中国的“微博”,大概不都是装的。但这些人视野极窄,性情极端,经常会闹出认知上的笑话。陈葵的个人性情什么样,我们无从得知,但推特是美国的主流互联网公司,其价值倾向、经营及用人原则确有着西方大公司的共同逻辑,不难把握。
  首先,推特的“美国属性”与谷歌、脸谱等应没什么两样,这包括它在意识形态领域的基本态度,以及在中美遇有矛盾时可能采取的立场等等。
  第二,推特一定会以自己的商业利益为中心,它的所有策略包括用人制度都会围绕这一原则展开。推特之前曾表示,该公司目前无意扩大中文用户群,但会积极开拓中国的广告市场,这一说法应当是可信的。推特去年中国广告客户增长超过200%,如此诱人的大蛋糕它不尽量多吃几口才是怪事。
  陈葵这个“总经理”应属“销售总经理”,与推特“内容审查”大概不会有什么关系。在被宣布任命后与中国官媒的英文账号有过友好互动,这与她要进一步“开拓中国广告市场”,希望给中方留个好印象估计不无关系。
  其实激进的“推友”们反对任命陈葵,对中国大陆这方面毫无损害。这根本就是推特公司和其用户之间的事,他们即使打得头破血流也犯不着我们操心。
  我们只是从这件事中看到了境外反中国体制那个圈子极端、可笑的鲜活表现,把它当一个乐子推荐给国内的公众阅读。这些人“逢中国必反”的劲头已经达到这种程度,连美国主流网站往中国市场派个人,他们都要掘地三尺查查那个人是否曾经做过“党的人”。这些人如此不自信,缺安全感,身在美国等他们宣扬的“天堂”中,仍活得像惊弓之鸟一般,或许也值得几分唏嘘吧。
  推特会变成中国的“微博”吗?当然不会。不过它如果想全面进入中国市场,就需围绕遵守中国法律做出相应调整,这个道理也是一定的。相信推特会为了公司的利益最大化而反复斟酌。(作者是环球时报评论员)
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