Indian embassy in China launches microblog

The Indian Embassy in Beijing has launched a new public diplomacy campaign using China’s popular Sina microblog service, The Hindu newspaper reported. Over the recent years, usage of microblogs, or “weibos”, has expanded rapidly in China, and foreign embassies have warmed to the medium as a low maintenance way to reach out to Chinese citizens. The Indian Embassy’s postings on Sina’s (SINA.NASDAQ) microblog service – which has over 100 million users – will focus on culture and tourism. Indian Ambassador to China S. Jaishankar said launching the Weibo account was part of a larger campaign to make the Indian Embassy’s public diplomacy initiatives “more interactive” and hoped the service can connect with young Chinese to correct prevalent misperceptions of India. A number of foreign embassies have created microblogs to reach out to Chinese citizens. The British Embassy microblog, which launched in 2009, has 165,000 followers. The United States Embassy has the most popular Weibo account of any foreign mission, with over 208,000 followers.