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11/23/2024 02:41:06 pm

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Chinese Blogger Fired by Tencent After Meeting with US Secretary John Kerry

Zhang Jialong

(Photo : Chinh's News) Former Tencent Financial employee Zhang Jialong with US Secretary of State John Kerry on February 15, 2014.

A Chinese blogger has been fired from Internet giant Tencent for some statements he released when he attended a meeting in Beijing with the US secretary of state John Kerry.

Former Tencent Financial employee Zhang Jialong said the firm notified him last week that he was being given the boot for leaking trade secrets and confidential data. Zhang announced his dismissal through a blog he posted on Friday, which the China Change website has translated to English, The New York Times relayed.

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The US Embassy invited the 26-year-old blogger, along with three other writers, to meet with Kerry during his trip to China in February. During the meeting, he openly criticized China's censorship and restriction on online content available in their country.

He had also asked if Kerry was willing to help the Chinese who long for freedom from the "great firewall" that controls Internet content. He also brought up the detention of legal scholar Xu Zhiyong and the house arres of Nobel Peace writer Liu Xiaobo's wife Liu Xia.

He detailed his opinions about the meeting in an article published by the Foreign Policy magazine. However, Zhang said what he told Kerry did not sit well with his Chinese employer.

Zhang said his supervisor warned him of "adjustments" to his job and told him to prepare for changes such as dismissal. Tencent had brought up his comments with the propaganda officials.

Zhang explained that the only reason his labor contract was not immediately terminated after the meeting was that China did not want it to affect its relations with the US and incite response from international media.

Both Tencent and the US Embassy have yet to comment on this issue.

In the said blog post, Zhang enumerated several censorship orders sent by the Chinese government to media firms to leave out certain information from their coverage. Some workers who negate the orders sometimes reveal those orders.

California-based news website China Digital Times files such orders under the label Ministry of Truth.

In an interview, Zhang said he did leak some business secrets and that it may have contributed to his dismissal. He also said his comments to Kerry were among the reasons he was fired.

For now, Zhang said he does not expect to be able to work in another Chinese media firm. He plans to rest, study English, and go the US or another country for educational purposes.

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