China web users deluge Russia blog with insults

BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese Internet users have deluged the microblog of the Russian embassy in Beijing with thousands of abusive comments within days of its opening, just ahead of a visit to Moscow by China's new president Xi Jinping.

The Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949 when its forces finally triumphed in the country's long civil war, and for a time it was closely allied with its ideological counterpart in the Soviet Union.

They later split, but since the collapse of the USSR, commercial and political ties between China and Russia have grown, and the two countries now cooperate on a range of issues at the United Nations.

"Hello everyone! This is the Russian embassy! Today, we opened a weibo. We welcome your interest," the embassy said on March 18 as it launched a verified account on Tencent Weibo, a Chinese site similar to Twitter.