"I see in Beijing the beautiful spring, a season when flowers reach full bloom," wrote Israeli President Shimon Peres on his Chinese microblog on April 10, as he wrapped up his China tour. "I will continue to update my microblog after I go back to Israel and will continue to communicate with my dear Chinese netizens here."

Over the past few years, the boom in microblogs, or Weibo in China, has attracted many foreigners to dip a toe in the water, some of them state leaders or other dignitaries.

According to Yu Jun, public diplomacy expert and professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance, online communication has become a trend for leaders seeking to create a rapport and win popularity in the host country before a foreign visit.

"The large number of users has made microblogs their preferred option in China," Yu said.

Hundreds of foreign leaders have registered Weibo accounts in China. As of April 16, British Prime Minister David Cameron had over 830,000 followers on SinaWeibo, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy had nearly 4 million, and IMF managing director Christine Lagarde had over 4.2 million.

Although many opened their accounts prior to or during their visits to China, quite a number of them have remianed active. As of April 16 2014, Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has 5,488 posts on her SinaWeibo, Van Rompuy has 1,417, and Lagarde, Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro number in the hundreds. Although David Cameron has only made 22 posts, his most recent update on April 3 has been reposted more than 23,000 times.

In addition to keeping Chinese microbloggers informed of their agenda in China, the content of these posts also takes in wider content. The most curious case occurred in 2012, when not long after Boris Johnson signed up an account on SinaWeibo, other candidates of the 2012 London Mayoral election followed suit. They moved their debate there in what was believed to be an attempt to woo London Chinese.

As well as Weibo, visiting politicians are also keen to do interviews with Chinese news websites. In 2013 alone, the list of such politicians included Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

"Regardless of which option they choose, their purpose is clearly to win popularity with the Chinese public for themselves and for their countries – that is for sure," says Yu Jun.

The article is edited and translated from《国际政要热衷来华当网友》, source: People's Daily Overseas Edition; author: Liu Shaohua.