Twitter’s chief executive is embarking on a trip to China to learn more about the Chinese technology sector even as the US messaging platform remains blocked from operating in the country.

Dick Costolo will meet with Shanghai government officials on his first trip to China, where the San Francisco-based messaging site has been banned since 2009. Arriving on Monday, he will spend a few days in Shanghai, where he will also meet academics and students at Shanghai’s Fudan University, but will not visit Beijing.

However, Twitter said it had no plans to enter the large and fast-growing Chinese internet market, where social networks are subject to government censorship and many major US internet companies such as Google and Facebook do not operate. Twitter prides itself on its commitment to free speech, and has occasionally fought court battles on behalf of its users.