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| Despite China's Great Firewall, internet users have been able to reach Barack Obama's Google+ page |
President
Obama's page on Google's social network site has been inundated with messages
in Chinese after restrictions in China were removed.
Every
current topic on Mr Obama's Google+ page attracted hundreds of Chinese
comments.
Some
contributors made jokes; others said they were occupying the site in the style
of western Occupy campaigns.
Google+ is
normally blocked in China along with other social media that the authorities
deem unacceptable.
Since
Google+ was launched in 2011, software known informally as the Great Firewall
had appeared to block it within China.
But on 20
February 2012 internet-users in many parts of China found they could gain
access to the site - prompting some to suggest occupying it, in a
tongue-in-cheek reference to the Occupy Wall Street campaign.
On 24 and
25 February, to the consternation of American readers, every current topic on
President Obama's 2012 election campaign page attracted hundreds of comments,
apparently from China.
Their exact
provenance cannot be verified, but the expressions contributors used were in
the style of mainland China and in simplified Chinese.
A few
appealed for the liberty of the civil rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who is
under house arrest.
Others
asked about a recent political intrigue in south-west China, in which one of
the country's top policemen, Wang Lijun, spent a day in the US consulate in
Chengdu for undisclosed reasons.
But many
simply voiced delight at their freedom to speak: they talked about occupying
the furniture and bringing snacks and soft drinks.
The White
House in Washington has not commented on the upsurge of Chinese interest in
President Obama's campaign site.
But it has
prompted one poster to suggest that if China ever abandoned its internet
restrictions, the United States would have to protect its social media with a
Great Firewall of its own.
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