China's official media welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative to open an account on the popular Chinese social microblog Weibo, saying he scored a "big hit" ahead of his visit to China next week. "Modi scored a big hit with micro blog in run-up to visit," read the headline in the state-run English language China Daily, while another official newspaper Global Times headline said 'Modi debuts on Weibo ahead of state visit to China'. Modi, who is scheduled to start his three-day visit to China from 14th May, posted his first post in Chinese, saying "Hello China! Looking forward to interacting with Chinese friends through Weibo." His post was immediately forwarded more than 4,700 times and attracted over 7,800 comments within three hours, it said.

Le Yucheng, the Chinese ambassador to India, said that Modi will have the chance to communicate with China's businesspeople, young students and the public during his visit. The Global Times said Modi has been welcomed by Chinese internet users with his first post, getting more than 14,217 hits and 26,406 followers. More than 10,000 internet users commented on his first post. "Aside from expressing curiosity on who runs this account for Modi, some net users made references to territorial disputes between the two countries," it said.

It is not the first time that a foreign leader has opened a micro-blog account before making an official trip to China. In September 2013, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro opened a micro-blog account before visiting China, it said. Over 200 leaders of foreign countries and international organisations, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, had opened micro-blog accounts. The goodwill gesture by the Prime Minister is seen as a welcome step during his forthcoming China visit. This will help him to communicate freely with the leaders and business persons of China in a successful manner.

By Premji