BEIJING (AP) – Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has had a rare meeting with China’s propaganda chief, even as Chinese authorities are tightening control over their cyberspace.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported that Liu Yunshan told Zuckerberg that he hopes Facebook can share its experience with Chinese companies to help “Internet development better benefit the people of all countries.”

Facebook and other Western social media including Twitter are banned in China. Zuckerberg has long been courting China’s leaders in a so far futile attempt to access the country with the world’s largest number of Internet users.

He was in Beijing Saturday to attend an economic forum.

China has been stepping up Internet control and censorship. Liu recently said all Internet users must not cross the “baseline” when discussing China’s governance.