Twitter首席執行官迪克•科斯特洛開啓訪華之旅

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首席執行官迪克•科斯特洛(Dick Costolo)開啓了訪華之旅，以瞭解中國科技產業現狀——儘管這家美國即時消息平臺依然被禁止在華運營。

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.

週一抵達中國後，科斯特洛將在上海待幾天，在那裏他將與上海復旦大學(Fudan University)的學者和學生會面。在科斯特洛的首次中國之旅中，他將與上海政府官員會晤，但不會訪問北京。

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.

不過，Twitter表示目前並無計劃進入中國互聯網市場。在中國，社交網絡會受到政府審查，谷歌(Google)和Facebook等美國主要互聯網企業都未在華開展業務。Twitter一直以致力於言論自由而自豪，有時甚至會爲用戶打官司。目前，Twitter有四分之三的用戶在美國之外。在中國，自2009年以來，Twitter始終被封禁，不過有些中國人仍能通過虛擬專用網(vpn)使用該網站——這些人中最有名的是持不同政見的藝術家艾未未。

“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：“迪克目前正在訪問中國，因爲他想了解更多中國文化，以及中國繁榮的技術產業。我們沒有任何改變服務以進入中國市場的計劃。”

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.

就在科斯特洛訪問中國之前，Twitter營收主管上週曾告訴英國《金融時報》，Twitter及其他美國科技企業應學習聊天應用微信(WeChat)和連我(Line)等亞洲互聯網企業的業務模式。這些企業以銷售貼圖和遊戲等產品向用戶收費，而不是幾乎完全依賴廣告獲得營收。

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在首次公開招股(IPO)前的籌備過程中，曾聘用全職員工來專門管理大中華區業務。