Facebook staffs up in China despite being blocked

This photo illustration shows Facebook's Colorful Balloons app (L) next to its Moments app (R) at an office in Beijing on August 15, 2017. Facebook's sneaky launch of a photo-sharing app in China, where its social network is banned, gives it a small taste of the massive market's potential, but it may have to settle for just that for now. / AFP PHOTO / GREG BAKER / TO GO WITH China-US-internet-Facebook,FOCUS by Albee Zhang

SHANGHAI: Facebook has hired a Chinese government-relations point man and is seeking other staff in signs that it harbours ambitions for a China presence despite its main social media platform being blocked. 

William Shuai was named senior manager of Facebook’s government relations in Beijing, similar to positions he held previously with Chinese search engine Baidu and the LinkedIn social network, according to Shuai’s own LinkedIn page.