Chinese Twitter users openly voiced out their concerns over the company's decision to hire veteran technology executive Kathy Chen as the Greater China regional director, saying she has a background of working with the Chinese government and state security apparatus.

After Twitter appointed Chen as China's first managing director, Chinese users of the US-based microblogging site expressed their worry if their freedom of speech on the platform will be hampered.

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Although the social networking site is blocked in China, Twitter has become a sanctuary of freedom of speech for overseas Chinese users.

"Twitter has vast amounts of users' data. Given that US tech firms have in the past kowtowed to China, and given the military background of Kathy Chen, it's only reasonable for the Chinese users of Twitter to be worried about the future," He Qinglian, a well-known overseas-based Chinese political activist wrote on her blog ABC News reported.

Moreover, Wen Yunchao, a political heterodox, also posted on Twitter that Chen had spent seven years working for the People's Liberation Army and became the head of an anti-virus company, which is a joint venture with links to the Ministry of Public Security.

"It's only reasonable to question the direction of a company by its personnel decisions," Wen noted on his Twitter account.

Meanwhile, in an email response from Twitter, the company said that it is not surprising for the Chinese government to assign graduates to jobs in the 1980s. It further said that Chen's computer degree made her a qualified candidate for a job as a junior engineer in the People's Liberation Army.  

"When the Chinese economy further opened up with reform in the early 1990s, Kathy chose to pursue her passion for a technology career by switching to the private sector in 1994," the statement wrote.

It further clarified that Chen's role is to represent the interest of Twitter's major stockholder, US-based tech company Computer Associates. The statement added that she "never worked for the Ministry of Public Security." 

Chen, on the other hand, expressed her excitement for her new job.

"I am really excited to find more ways to create value for our advertisers, enterprises, creators, influencers and our developers, and partners as well."

She, however, did not comment on the issues thrown to her. 

Tagschina, Twitter, Kathy Chen, Freedom of Speech, Computer Associates