Twitter's appointment of a Chinese managing director shows China's rising influence in the international Internet market and US companies' growing pragmatism in tapping the market, observers said, following some foreign media and social media users' claims that the former Chinese military engineer may hurt freedom of speech on the Internet.

Kathy Chen, a former general manager at Microsoft and Cisco, was appointed by Twitter as its first managing director for the Greater China region on Friday.

Chen greeted Twitter users with several posts after her appointment, with one encouraging CCTV News, a Twitter account owned by China's State-owned broadcaster, to "work together to tell the great China stories to the world."

Despite Chen's friendly gestures, some Western media and Twitter users showed their discontent over her appointment, and are unsettled at Chen's reported working experience in the People's Liberation Army, fearing that this may lead to less Internet freedom.

Chen worked as a junior engineer at the People's Liberation Army from 1987 to 1994, news portal tech.sina.com reported in 2002.

Like Facebook and Google, Twitter is not accessible in the Chinese mainland.

In an e-mail sent to the Global Times on Monday, Twitter explained why it is hiring Chen for the Chinese market, saying it's targeting enterprise customers that are trying to use the popular social media platform to connect to the world.

"Under Kathy Chen's leadership, we will provide more of Twitter's enterprise offerings such as advertising to Chinese businesses and startups to help them reach a global audience," a Twitter spokesperson wrote, adding that Chen's extensive experience has been "spent connecting China to the world."

Chen could not be reached for comment as of press time.

"It's typical bias to assume that a Chinese with a government background will hinder freedom [of speech]. Many international companies have appointed Chinese people to important posts, which has led to their success in the Chinese market," Steven Dong, a professor at the Academy of Media and Public Affairs of the Communication University of China, told the Global Times.

"Western countries used to have a major say over the Internet market. As China eyes swift Internet development, more Chinese will assume important positions in Internet giants such as Twitter in the future," Qin An, a cyber-security expert at the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, told the Global Times.

"Western countries should rid themselves of prejudice and accept China's rise as a major Internet power. Both sides should help each other build a community of shared future in cyberspace," Qin said, adding that Chen's appointment should be "welcomed and encouraged."

Attractive market

"The appointment also shows Twitter's emphasis on the Chinese market, as China has more than 700 million Internet users, and the number will continue to rise," Qin said, adding that the Internet industry in China has been developing rapidly in the past few years.

Chinese organizations and media outlets are already using Twitter as a platform to reach a global audience. The Xinhua News Agency, a State-owned news agency, has more than 3.8 million followers on Twitter, outshining many of its foreign counterparts.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Twitter vice-president for Asia-Pacific Shailesh Rao said the company has seen a 340 per cent growth in the number of advertisers from China who use Twitter, including Lenovo and Huawei, as well as State-run media.