Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg lauded the virtues of socialism during a recent meeting with Lu Wei, the czar of China's draconian Internet censorship system.

Having previously met with State Department official Catherine Novelli, who urged the two countries to "work together as friends" on web security, Wei paid a visit to Facebook's SIlicon Valley offices despite the fact that the social networking website is completely banned in China.

During the meeting, Wei discovered a book written by Chinese President Xi Jinping called "The Governance of China" sitting on Zuckerberg's office desk, leading Zuckerberg to comment, "I've bought this book for my co-workers. I want them to understand socialism with Chinese characteristics."

"The sight of Xi's book on a tech tycoon's table has been taken as hypocritical and absurd by many observers – the government Xi leads has one of the most restrictive Internet policies in the entire world and Facebook itself is banned in the country. Zuckerberg's promoting of the book struck many as kow-towing," reports the Washington Post.

Prominent Chinese dissident Hu Jia accused Zuckerberg of having an understanding of Chinese politics akin to a 3-year-old, while users of China's social media site Weibo portrayed the Facebook CEO as a Mao-era Red Guard clutching Xi's book.