Chinese diplomats take to Twitter to defend Beijing

Chinese diplomats are increasingly turning to Twitter to defend Beijing's policies to the international community, taking combative stances and courting controversy on a platform banned in their own country.

While Chinese officials typically stay away from sharing their views on social media, a strident tweetstorm from a Pakistan-based diplomat is raising eyebrows.

Zhao Lijian, deputy chief of mission for the Chinese embassy in Pakistan, found himself in hot water this week after tweeting on racial disparity in Washington, saying "you know the white never go" to a certain area "because it's an area of the black & Latin".

His tweet incited outrage from the former US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, who wrote on Monday: "You are a racist disgrace. And shockingly ignorant too."
"So now, not only is China trying to shape the narrative about China, but it's also trying to shape a broader international narrative."
"No attempts to split China will ever succeed," he tweeted Friday. "Those who play with fire will only get themselves burned. Period."