It would be 'unthinkable' for the central government to close down all of the country's Twitter-like microblogs, or weibo, however troublesome they could be for the government, said a senior spokeswoman for the Beijing municipality.
'It would be an impossible task,' said Wang Hui (pictured), general director of the capital city's information office. 'So many people are using weibo [the Chinese name for 140-character microblogs], and they all love using them.'
This was because weibo is 'instant, convenient, and allows self-expression', she said.
Wang insisted that she had never ordered messages posted by visitors to her microblog to be deleted for their political content, other than those with 'violent and sexual content'. Private microblog owners, however, complain that political censorship is rife in the Chinese microblog world.
Rather than fight an impossible and unpopular battle, the government has decided to go with the tide. On November 17, the Beijing municipality became the first of the mainland's 31 governments at provincial, municipal or autonomous region level to launch an official microblog (city.weibo.com/g/beijingBeijing).
The move allowed the city to explain its policies, report its work and provide services 'in the way the people like', Wang said.
The Beijing municipal microblog carries releases from 21 local government agencies.
