Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of state-owned newspaper Global Times, is back on Chinese social media after more than three months of silence.
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Hu reappeared on microblogging platform Weibo with a post on Thursday evening that expressed personal delight at a new bridge over the Chaobai River connecting the outskirts of Beijing with neighbouring Hebei province.
“I’m very happy and want to open my arms to hug it,” he wrote, adding that he and many other Beijing residents had bought homes on the Hebei side because of affordability, and the bridge would ease their commutes to the capital city.
It was Hu’s first post on social media in over three months since he disappeared from the public spotlight in late July following the deletion of his article interpreting a key Communist Party economic strategy document.
There has so far been no official explanation as to why his previously prolific social media activities stopped, leaving many to wonder whether he had faced backlash for expressing his views.
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Hu, who left his position at Global Times in 2021, has nearly 25 million followers on Weibo. Known as “Old Hu”, he has not shied away from controversial opinions and has been a prominent defender of Beijing’s policies.