Twitter temporarily suspends two Chinese diplomatic accounts

China’s consulate in Sydney and cultural counsellor at the embassy in Pakistan both say they were locked out on Monday

Their accounts were restored after they contacted the social media platform but they say no explanation was given

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Twitter is blocked in mainland China but Chinese diplomats use the social media platform to convey their message to Western audiences and defend Beijing. Photo: AP

Published: 8:26pm, 14 Apr 2021Updated: 4:08pm, 15 Apr 2021

Two Chinese diplomatic users say their Twitter accounts were temporarily suspended this week and later reactivated, but that the social media network did not say why.

China’s consulate in Sydney said in a statement that its official account had been suspended on Monday and was restored the next day after it contacted Twitter, but no explanation was given.

The consulate said it had “expressed regret over the relevant practices of Twitter”.

That prompted Zhang Heqing, the cultural counsellor at China’s embassy in Pakistan, to reveal that the same thing had happened to him.

“My account has the same experience. It was suspended yesterday morning. I applied for the lifting of the suspension and it was reactivated last night,” Zhang wrote in a comment on the Chinese consulate in Sydney’s Twitter account on Tuesday.

Zhang said he had not received an explanation from Twitter either as to why his account had been suspended.

Zhang Heqing said he had not received an explanation for the temporary suspension of his Twitter account. Photo: Twitter

Twitter is blocked in mainland China but is actively used by state media outlets and Chinese diplomats to convey their message to Western audiences and defend Beijing against criticism.