There has been a large outcry against Twitter’s appointment of its first China managing director, Kathy Chen, on April 15, and several major news outlets have noted her controversial background which has sparked concern among Chinese users.
With her new position at Twitter, Chen is expected to help get Chinese advertisers for the microblogging platform. It’s also not a far-shot to say Twitter is hoping that Chen can be a first step to getting its service un-banned in Mainland China.
There are a few problems with Chen, however, with some relating to her background, and others related to her rumored underlying goals.
Chen used to serve in a sensitive branch of the Chinese regime’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and has ties to the digital operations of the Ministry of Public Security.
According to several sources, including Voice of America, Chen served as an engineer in the PLA’s Second Artillery Corps, which controls the Chinese regime’s ballistic missiles. She later worked as an engineer in its Nov. 1 Research Academy as a “programmer on the top-secret missile protocol design.”
