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China’s UN Mission Follows Obama on Twitter. They Also Follow Katy Perry.

The Twitter account for China's mission follows lots of pop star but not Samantha Power.

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As a member of the Security Council and a global economic powerhouse, China is one of the most important countries in the United Nations. Given this fact, you’d expect the official Twitter account of the Chinese mission there to follow top diplomats, like U.S. ambassador Samantha Power (@AmbassadorPower), other U.N. missions, and top world leaders, right?

As a member of the Security Council and a global economic powerhouse, China is one of the most important countries in the United Nations. Given this fact, you’d expect the official Twitter account of the Chinese mission there to follow top diplomats, like U.S. ambassador Samantha Power (@AmbassadorPower), other U.N. missions, and top world leaders, right?

Wrong.

The tweets coming from the English-language Twitter account, @ChinaMission2UN, are pretty boring stuff. There have been just nine of them, and below are a few examples.

Who they follow is where things get interesting.  @ChinaMission2UN, which the Chinese mission confirmed as authentic, does follow a few politicians, like President Barack Obama (@BarackObama) and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio), as well news organizations like the New York Times (@nytimes) and CNN (@cnnbrk). But some of the 42 people filling their Twitter feed might come as a surprise.

They include:

Reality show and unofficial ambassador to Armenia Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian).

Noted auteurs Kevin Hart (@KevinHart4real) and Lena Dunham (@lenadunham).

Talk show hosts Ellen Degeneres (@TheEllenShow) and Jimmy Fallon (@jimmyfallon).

Celebrated Internet video critic Daniel Tosh (@danieltosh).

Katy Perry (@katyperry), Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake), Ariana Grande, (@ArianaGrande), and Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13), all practitioners of musical diplomacy.

Gawker (@gawker), to keep up on the latest New York gossip.

Eater (@EaterNY), in case they get hungry.

And to round things out with some sports, LeBron James (@KingJames) and ESPN (@espn).

The full list is worth a look, and FP’s social media editor, Emma Carew Grovum (@emmacarew), pointed out that many of these accounts were probably suggested to whoever is running the account when they created it.

Still, that same person had to click follow.

Photo Credit: Timothy Clary/Getty Images

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