yojinbo @▲▲▲▲▲▲ My guess is, if these guys have official backing from Beijing, is they'd use these account to disrupt the service during of social unrest in their country. It's no secret that Twitter was used extensively to report on the recent popular uprising in Tibet, both by Western media and native Tibetans, despite attempts by Chinese officials to shut down all communications.

Just imagine if Twitter had been around during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The world's outrage might've been stoked enough by real time tweets, photos and video of the governments brutal response. Don't discount the power of Twitter and other social media. I don't think the Chinese do.
Added 2009-10-29 13:21:32.

▲▲▲▲▲▲ What on earth would you do with all those accounts?
Its kind of like copying some keys to a bank vault but when you open it there is just a mountain of steaming shit.

Added 2009-10-29 10:22:04.

Yojinbo Recently phishers based in China (possibly working for the Chinese government?) began hacking Twitter accounts. The attack method is clumsy, but effective enough for them to keep trying it. They send a DM to someone on their follow list with a link to an apparent blogsite (blogger.djhxkcs.com). Once clicked, the user is sent to a bogus Twitter login screen and asked for their username and password. When the unsuspecting tweep tries to log in, he is taken to the all-too-familiar Twitter whale overload page and told to try again later. Meanwhile, the phishers use the user's account to send more DMs to other unsuspecting Twitter users, ad infinitum.
Added 2009-10-28 13:24:11.