Danielle Cave, Lowy Interpreter:
Across two op-eds, China's Global Times attacked those complaining about Twitter's new appointment and usedthe occasion to promote China's global role as an Internet giant. And indeed China is such a giant. Its rapidly-growing tech and mobile industries are some of the most innovative in the world and there's a lot at stake. Which is why the Global Times shouldn't be shocked that background checks are done on senior foreign nationals employed in the industry, a procedure large Chinese tech companies surely undertake as well. Imagine if Internet company Tencent picked an individual with close CIA and US military connections to lead its push into the US and that person kicked off their Weibo presence with a series of posts about working with Fox News and the NY Times to share the 'American dream.' One would expect a bemused, and possibly angry, reaction from Chinese netizens.
While there don't seem to be any current links between Chen and her ex government employers, China's public security apparatus would undoubtedly benefit from information she now has access to. The Chinese government would be foolish not to reach out to someone who was (at one time) one of its own. That's its job. Insights that can be gleaned on the inner workings and politics of Silicon Valley, including interactions these online companies have with their own and overseas governments, would be a valuable commodity. Any well-resourced intelligence community would be seeking to generate such a line of reporting. But that's a conundrum for Twitter's management and any organisation around the world that hires an overseas national with close links to his or her home country's national security community.
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