China finds a use abroad for Twitter, a medium it fears at home
The country’s diplomats are learning to play rough online
AS THE CRISIS deepened over the outbreak of covid-19, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, convened a meeting of the country’s most powerful body, the Politburo Standing Committee. One topic the seven men discussed on February 3rd was how to manage publicity. Officials, they agreed, must “tell the story of China’s fight against the epidemic, and show the Chinese people’s spirit of unity and togetherness”. In response, Chinese diplomats have been turning to a medium that most of them eschewed until just a year ago: Twitter. Blocked in China, it is fast becoming a favoured tool for the Communist Party as it tries to amplify its voice globally.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Discovering Twitter”
From the February 22nd 2020 edition
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