China Will Unblock Facebook and Twitter in Free Trade Zone

China’s ambitious Shanghai Free Trade Zone is designed to welcome foreign investment and open an attractive yuan-denominated financial sector to the rest of the world. But it’s hard to boast about free trade credentials behind the Great Firewall of China, so media outlets and social networks that are banned elsewhere in China will be available in the zone, the South China Morning Post reported Tuesday, citing unnamed government sources.

In addition, the government will consider bids from foreign telecommunications companies to provide Internet service in the zone.

“In order to welcome foreign companies to invest and to let foreigners live and work happily in the free-trade zone, we must think about how we can make them feel like at home,” one source told the South China Morning Post. “If they can’t get onto Facebook or read The New York Times, they may naturally wonder how special the free-trade zone is compared with the rest of China.” Read more...