China’s Twitter-like social media Weibo has blocked an outspoken entrepreneur and demographer, raising concerns over increasingly eroding freedom of speech in the country.
James Liang, a graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology and a former researcher at ORACLE, is the co-founder and chairman of the board of directors of China’s largest online travel company, Trip.com Group. He is also a professor of economics at Peking University with a focus on population studies.
Weibo suspended Liang’s account for “violating relevant laws and regulations” but offered no detailed explanation. His last update was posted on April 29.
Notably, nearly all of his posts on Weibo focus on China’s population issues, including the one-child policy, low fertility rate, and the ageing population. In his last post, he tactfully criticized China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC) for misrepresenting birth data to maintain its domestic influence and interests….