Ex-Australian leader garners fans on Chinese micro blog

Every fan of former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, knows his family and life well.

Rudd is mesmerized with his newly born first grandchild, Josephine Therese Tse, a baby girl he described in Chinese as "comprehensively pretty and healthy" and who has made him "comprehensively happy". The baby is living with her parents in Beijing, while her uncle, Rudd's second son, is studying at Peking University.

And after Rudd said on Oct 29 that his pet and "senior political consultant" Jasper, a black cat, had passed away, more than 700 Chinese netizens left condolence messages and expressed their wishes that the cat rest in peace.

Chinese experts said that after months of effort, Rudd has set an example for foreign politicians to directly influence Chinese voters and Chinese people at large through Sina Weibo. However, they added there might not be many cases like Rudd's in the future, as his fluent Chinese, close relations with China and subtle changes in Canberra's relations with China cannot be easily copied.

Although currently without a major position in the Australian government and the ruling Labor Party, Rudd has found himself one of the most successful foreign politicians on the largest online social platform in China.

He has nearly 340,000 fans now, after International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, who boasts nearly 1.6 million fans, and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, with 1.34 million fans.

There are about 320 million people and organizations using Sina Weibo, according to figures released in May. Many users are Chinese living abroad.

Rudd started to write his Sina Weibo micro blog on April 18. His friend Rui Chenggang, a news anchor from China Central Television, encouraged him to do so after a rush of foreign politicians opened accounts on Sina Weibo beginning in May.

Ye Hailin, a professor in international relations at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the tide was mainly led by fierce campaigns around the world and a rising Chinese population in Western countries.

Rudd has posted 143 messages in the past half-year, all in Chinese. The topics cover political talks, especially domestic political and social issues in China, but he has concentrated on sharing his life with his fans.

"Rudd said people interested in traditional politics should read People's Daily, while those who want to study international strategies should go to institutions under Tsinghua University," said a report that the Chinese-language International Herald Leader carried in October after an exclusive interview with Rudd about his micro blog.

"And those interested in the daily life of an ordinary Western politician can come and have a look at my Weibo," Rudd was quoted as saying, adding he was just writing about daily things such as taking his cat to see the doctor and things that he regretted after one day.

"That is why I love to read his Weibo," said Chi Lifan, 29, an employee at a Shanghai-based IT firm. Chi has followed Rudd on Sina Weibo since May.

Chi said at the start she was just curious about what Rudd's blog would be like, as it was reported that Rudd is fluent in Chinese.

"But gradually I found myself to some extent addicted to the blog. Apparently he did not have someone else write them, as there were at times grammar mistakes and funny expressions that are actually not used in Mandarin," Chi said.

And that is a reason why she found the account real and interesting, aside from factors such as the deep feelings that Rudd expressed to his family, which can easily be echoed in Oriental culture, and the impressive experiences he wrote about, she added.

In replies to Rudd, many netizens said they liked his little granddaughter very much. Some said the kid was very meng, an online word meaning "cute," and asked Rudd if he understood. There are others online waiting to help Rudd with his grammar and wording in his new posts.

Though Rudd randomly touches upon politics directly, he helped two Chinese students robbed and beaten by local youth in Sydney in late May after netizens informed him of the incident.

In Australia, Chinese is the largest minority group, accounting for 4 percent of the country's population.

Rudd's efforts seem to work well. When he showed up in mid-October at a gathering in Sydney of overseas Chinese held by an opposition leader, Rudd immediately grabbed people's attention, and Chinese crowded to see him.

Rudd also said in his interview with the International Herald Leader that he also learned of "a different China" through Sina Weibo.

Foreigners usually have limited access in China, while the micro blog has changed the situation, he said.

The communication through Sina Weibo showed him many aspects of China that he did not notice before. The free and direct way in which netizens express their ideas also impressed him, Rudd said, adding before that, he believed doing so was a privilege only in Western countries.

Many foreign politicians have followed Rudd's suit, or even did that before him, but nobody repeated his success.

Australia's Ted Baillieu, the premier of Victoria state, opened his Sina Weibo account in March to communicate with ethnic Chinese voters. He has posted 38 messages in Chinese so far, seemingly written by an assistant fluent in Chinese, and has about 32,000 fans now.

London Mayor Boris Johnson opened his Sina Weibo account in April on the eve of the May 3 mayoral election. His rivals, former London Mayor Ken Livingstone and Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick, followed suit and joined later that month.

Johnson has more than 120,000 fans now, while the other two has no more than 50,000. Johnson and Paddick has seldom updated since the voting. Such situation is the same with the cases of some US politicians running Weibo accounts.

Ye, at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that Rudd's case cannot easily be repeated as it is both an individual case for the politician himself and for Australia.

"Rudd is fluent in Chinese and is fond of the Chinese culture after spending years living in China. His family members also have close relations with China," he said.

But the other foreign politicians on Sina Weibo have their micro blogs running just for Chinese voters in their countries and have not much to do with the local netizens, he said.

Besides, though Australia is still a close ally of the United States, it is subtly adjusting its relations with China, given their key economic relations and a rising Chinese population in Australia, Ye added. China is currently Australia's largest trading partner.

"If 100 Chinese netizens welcome Rudd's Weibo, while 10,000 Australians dislike it, I'm sure he will close it. But it's not the case," Ye said. "Actually, unlike many Western countries, most of the Australian politicians and people agree with developing closer ties with Beijing. That is why we see recently that Australia tends to play a role of mediator in conflicts between China and the US."

Wang Yusheng, a veteran Chinese diplomat and a former Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation official, said what Chinese netizens should take seriously is not what Rudd says now, but his stance if he regains key governmental or party positions.

"I have to remind netizens that China-Australia relations hit a low during the Rudd's term as prime minister," which was from 2007 to 2010, he said.

However, netizens do not care that much.

Sina Weibo user Haishenbujiandi wrote in a reply to Rudd recently that he learned through media that Rudd expects to have 1 million fans on his micro blog.

"I believe it will be realized soon, as Chinese always support sincere friends," said the reply.

lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn