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Xi's US Visit 2015
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (facing) speaks to Chinese President Xi Jinping (centre) as China's internet tsar Lu Wei looks on. Photo: Reuters

New | Like: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg marks 'personal milestone' after minute-long chat in Mandarin with Xi Jinping

The social network founder’s gushing post about his encounter with Xi is not the first time he has shown his admiration for the Chinese president

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has gushed about his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, calling it a “personal milestone”, after he spoke in Mandarin to Xi at an event on Wednesday.

“On a personal note, this was the first time I’ve ever spoken with a world leader entirely in a foreign language,” Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page about the conversation that lasted less than a minute. “I consider that a meaningful personal milestone.”

A picture accompanying the post showed Zuckerberg greeting the president. He was in a suit and tie – a rare practice for the internet billionaire. Lu Wei – China’s internet tsar, who controls the country’s great firewall that blocks Facebook among other foreign websites – stood by the two, wearing a broad smile.

READ MORE: From Zuckerberg's Chinese to Lei Jun's English: tech leaders busy learning foreign languages

“It was an honour to meet President Xi and other leaders,” Zuckerberg’s post read, adding that internet users could follow updates of the president’s first state visit to the United States on the Facebook page “Xi’s US Visit”.

Zuckerberg met Xi when the president visited Microsoft’s main campus in Redmond, near Seattle, on Wednesday. A Microsoft spokeswoman said that during Xi’s meeting there with internet CEOs, the president spoke for only about six minutes and that none of the American business leaders responded.

Zuckerberg’s post about his brief chat with Xi sparked debate among internet users over China’s censorship.

“He has already banned your Facebook in China … Why did you meet him,” one user commented.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Xi Jinping's US visit

The gesture, interpreted as Zuckerberg’s effort to court the Chinese government, disappointed and angered activists in China, who had held the social network in high regard for sharing information beyond the tight controls of the country’s ruling Communist Party, the Associated Press reported.

”Mr Zuckerberg is either ignorant of China’s politics or shameless,” said prominent dissident Hu Jia, who called Lu a top enemy of internet freedom and expressed worry that technology giants such as Facebook were kowtowing to Beijing for their own business interests. “He is an internet genius who should understand the power of technology for social change.”

Asked in November about Facebook’s blockage in China, Lu said: “The bottom line for foreign internet companies to enter China is they obey Chinese laws and regulations.”

They should not harm the country’s national interest and the interest of Chinese consumers, the top internet regulator added.

 

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