Xi Jinping calls for greater tolerance of criticism online about China’s government ... and comments about his remarks are barred or censored

President Xi Jinping’s call for greater tolerance of “well-intentioned” criticism online of the authorities in China has resulted, with much irony, in officials censoring reaction to his comments on social media.

Xi said at a forum on cybersecurity on Tuesday that officials should “heed public opinions” online and show internet users “greater tolerance and patience”.

He also pledged to take online criticism towards the Communist Party, the government and officials on board as long as it was “well-intentioned”, regardless how unpleasant it was to hear.

Hours after the forum the state news agency Xinhua started to post highlights of the speech on its Weibo account.

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But readers clicking on the comments section of the posting were shown a message that said: “This Weibo post is closed for comments.”

The post was shared over 5,000 times, but had only 16 comments. Among them, only two were allowed to be displayed.