Twitter首席执行官迪克•科斯特洛开启访华之旅

Twitter’s chief executive is embarking on a trip to China to learn more about the Chinese technology sector even as the US messaging platform remains blocked from operating in the country.

Twitter首席执行官迪克•科斯特洛(Dick Costolo)开启了访华之旅，以了解中国科技产业现状——尽管这家美国即时消息平台依然被禁止在华运营。

Dick Costolo will meet with Shanghai government officials on his first trip to China, where the San Francisco-based messaging site has been banned since 2009. Arriving on Monday, he will spend a few days in Shanghai, where he will also meet academics and students at Shanghai’s Fudan University, but will not visit Beijing.

周一抵达中国后，科斯特洛将在上海待几天，在那里他将与上海复旦大学(Fudan University)的学者和学生会面。在科斯特洛的首次中国之旅中，他将与上海政府官员会晤，但不会访问北京。

However, Twitter said it had no plans to enter the large and fast-growing Chinese internet market, where social networks are subject to government censorship and many major US internet companies such as Google and Facebook do not operate. Twitter prides itself on its commitment to free speech, and has occasionally fought court battles on behalf of its users.

不过，Twitter表示目前并无计划进入中国互联网市场。在中国，社交网络会受到政府审查，谷歌(Google)和Facebook等美国主要互联网企业都未在华开展业务。Twitter一直以致力于言论自由而自豪，有时甚至会为用户打官司。目前，Twitter有四分之三的用户在美国之外。在中国，自2009年以来，Twitter始终被封禁，不过有些中国人仍能通过虚拟专用网(vpn)使用该网站——这些人中最有名的是持不同政见的艺术家艾未未。

“Dick is visiting China because he wants to learn more about the Chinese culture and the country’s thriving technology sector,” Twitter said. “We have no plans to change anything about our service in order to enter the market.”

Twitter表示：“迪克目前正在访问中国，因为他想了解更多中国文化，以及中国繁荣的技术产业。我们没有任何改变服务以进入中国市场的计划。”

Mr Costolo’s visit comes after Twitter’s head of revenue told the Financial Times last week that the company, and others in the US sector, should learn from the business models of Asian internet companies such as chat apps WeChat and Line. The companies charge users for products such as stickers and games rather than relying almost exclusively on advertising revenue as do Twitter and Facebook.

就在科斯特洛访问中国之前，Twitter营收主管上周曾告诉英国《金融时报》，Twitter及其他美国科技企业应学习聊天应用微信(WeChat)和连我(Line)等亚洲互联网企业的业务模式。这些企业以销售贴图和游戏等产品向用户收费，而不是几乎完全依赖广告获得营收。

The announcement of the trip also come as two major Chinese internet companies prepare to list in New York. Alibaba, the Chinese ecommerce group, is heading for an initial public offering that could raise about $15bn, giving it a valuation among the highest ever recorded at IPO.

去年秋天，Twitter在首次公开招股(IPO)前的筹备过程中，曾聘用全职员工来专门管理大中华区业务。