Although Facebook has been banned from China by the Chinese Government, the company is in discussions around entering into a social networking joint venture with Chinese search engine Baidu.
This follows recent meetings between Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg – who has taught himself Mandarin Chinese – and Baidu’s CEO Robin Li in December.
Facebook is keen to enter the Chinese market and has held exploratory talks with potential partners.
Beyond the Great Firewall of China
Baidu is China’s largest search engine and is also keen to provide more social networking-style services in China.
However, the Chinese State, owners of the ‘Great Firewall of China’ blocks sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Google removed its search engine last year amid hacking allegations.
