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Since posting on Sina Weibo the first time in 2015 during a
visit to China, Modi has been an infrequent user of the Chinese
social media platform. He had more than 200,000 followers and
100 posts before the account was shut.
Sina Weibo announced the closure of the account late on
Wednesday and the removal comes a few days after India banned
dozens of Chinese apps, including Sina Weibo and ByteDance's
TikTok, following the border clash between the two nations.
An Indian government source told Reuters on Thursday that it
took time to get Modi's account taken down.
"For VIP accounts, Weibo has a more complex procedure to quit
which is why the official process was initiated. For reasons
best known to the Chinese, there was great delay in granting
this basic permission," the source said.
India lost 20 soldiers in the clash last month at the disputed
Himalayan border in what it said was a premeditated attack by
Chinese troops. Beijing rejected the allegations and blamed
frontline Indian troops for crossing into its side of
undemarcated border.
Modi was among a handful of foreign leaders with a Weibo
account.
Notably, he revealed the birth dates of both Chinese President
Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang by wishing them "Happy
Birthday" on Weibo. The birth dates of senior leaders in China
are usually not revealed publicly.
Chinese leaders are rarely active on social media. Foreign
social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are blocked
in China.
The Indian source said all of Modi's posts on Weibo had been
deleted except for two showing pictures of him with Xi. "On
Weibo, it is difficult to remove posts with the photo of their
president," the source said.
(Reporting by Pei Li, additional reporting by Sanjeev Miglani in
New Delhi; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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