Chinese general in full retreat after a mauling on the internet battlefield

If your enemy has conquered the commanding heights, do not follow him but retreat, said Sun Tzu in the Art of War.

It would have been good advice for Major General Luo Yuan, one of the most outspoken senior officers of the People's Liberation Army, after he stepped on to the battleground of the Chinese internet.

Last Friday, General Luo joined the fray on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, with a salute to his fellow patriots. "This is a crucial battlefield of opinions! We can no longer be silent, for you either explode in silence, or die in it," he tweeted. "For our beloved country, beloved party, beloved army, beloved people, we should fight!"

By Monday, General Luo, a star among the conservative sections of the PLA and a regular commentator on China Central Television's military channel, had amassed nearly 250,000 followers.

But he soon found that, unlike on television, his online audience could answer back. Tens of thousands of people started commenting and he quickly came under a barrage of abuse. When he tweeted that China should fight "traitors" and "corrupt" officials, online sleuths accused him of nepotism - his father was a national intelligence chief and one of his brothers is a general.

Outflanked, General Luo appears to have tried to even the score by leaving a self-congratulatory comment on one of his posts.

"General Luo Yuan is not only a soldier, but a scholar. His analysis on the North Korea nuclear issue is brilliant and his suggestions are very rational. How knowledgeable he is!" said the comment, signed in his own name.

To online guffaws and plenty of scepticism, the comment was deleted by administrators and the general claimed his password had been hacked.

Yesterday, General Luo was licking his wounds. "I don't want to talk about it," he told Fairfax Media. "I haven't got anything more to say about public opinion."



It would have been good advice for Major General Luo Yuan, one of the most outspoken senior officers of the People's Liberation Army, after he stepped on to the battleground of the Chinese internet.

Last Friday, General Luo joined the fray on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, with a salute to his fellow patriots. "This is a crucial battlefield of opinions! We can no longer be silent, for you either explode in silence, or die in it," he tweeted. "For our beloved country, beloved party, beloved army, beloved people, we should fight!"

By Monday, General Luo, a star among the conservative sections of the PLA and a regular commentator on China Central Television's military channel, had amassed nearly 250,000 followers.

But he soon found that, unlike on television, his online audience could answer back. Tens of thousands of people started commenting and he quickly came under a barrage of abuse. When he tweeted that China should fight "traitors" and "corrupt" officials, online sleuths accused him of nepotism - his father was a national intelligence chief and one of his brothers is a general.

Outflanked, General Luo appears to have tried to even the score by leaving a self-congratulatory comment on one of his posts.

"General Luo Yuan is not only a soldier, but a scholar. His analysis on the North Korea nuclear issue is brilliant and his suggestions are very rational. How knowledgeable he is!" said the comment, signed in his own name.

To online guffaws and plenty of scepticism, the comment was deleted by administrators and the general claimed his password had been hacked.

Yesterday, General Luo was licking his wounds. "I don't want to talk about it," he told Fairfax Media. "I haven't got anything more to say about public opinion."