Kevin Rudd's Weibo post about phone call with Xi Jinping goes viral

It’s been less than a fortnight since Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd took office in Canberra, but the Labor Party chief has already become somewhat of a social media rock star – in China.

A post by the newly reinstated leader on China's biggest microblogging platform, Sina Weibo, went viral this week after it was forwarded more than 30,000 times and favourited some 5,000 times. The PM currently has 480,752 followers on Weibo.

The conversation is Rudd's first with Xi since he became Prime Minister last month and mostly consisted of "pleasantries", Australia's ABC News reported.

According to China's state-run People’s Daily newspaper, Xi told Rudd he hoped both countries could be “flexible and creative in finding solutions to various problems”.

Xi reportedly told Rudd that a "a high level free-trade agreement" should be secured between the two countries as soon as possible and said he welcomed a visit by Australia’s new Trade Minister Richard Marles to carry out further ­negotiations.