When Global Times’ editor Hu Xijin went on Twitter he generated quite a buzz among foreign correspondents and activists in China. The Council on Foreign Relations looks at Hu’s tweeting as part of a new paradigm shift in Chinese politics and diplomacy:A very long discussion in the December 2011 issue of Foreign Affairs Review, the journal of the Foreign Affairs University, provides some context for what Hu’s tweeting might be about. The article, entitled “Global Politics in the Web 2.0 Era” is a discussion about how communication technologies are changing politics. The cases cited are the usual ones—the protests after the Iranian elections, the Arab Spring, SMS being used to organize protests against Philippine President Joseph Estrada, the Obama campaign’s use of Facebook and other social media—and political dynamics described are also now well known—web 2.0 empowers the individual to spread information, flattens hierarchies, and lowers the cost of mobilizing groups. Democratization and the growth of civil society are trends difficult to control, and as a result China must have a strategy for bringing about gradual change. Online expression by Chinese netizens, according to the article, can be “immature, aggressive, or empty.” But if China can develop an effective legal system... Read more