Facebook, IBM CEOs join Beijing B-school's board

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg talks with Chen Jining, president of Tsinghua University, during a meeting in Beijing.

China's Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management has added three Western business heavyweights to its advisory council including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and IBM CEO Virgina Rometty.

Zuckerberg will attend the business school's annual board meeting in Beijing on Friday, Facebook said.

Founded in 1984, Tsinghua's business school has several dozen board members including Chinese central banker Zhou Xiaochuan, Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein and Apple chief executive Tim Cook.

Zuckerberg, who has long stated his desire to enter China as part of his vision to connect the world's population on Facebook, will spend several days in Beijing this week to meet with advertising partners and experts to learn about the market, the company said.

Entering China is something "we are always interested in and always studying," said spokeswoman Charlene Chian, who declined to say whether Zuckerberg will hold any formal meetings with government officials.

An IBM spokeswoman said Rometty will not attend the board meeting this week but is due in China in November. Rometty has visited China repeatedly over past 12 months to mend the company's image amid calls by some Chinese experts and computing rivals to abandon foreign technology on cyber security grounds.