Wolf warrior diplomacy
[2][1][10] Wolf warrior diplomacy has been seen as part of CCP general secretary Xi Jinping's efforts to bolster China's "discourse power" in international politics and a reflection of an ideological struggle with the Western world.
When Deng Xiaoping came to power following Mao Zedong's death in the late 1970s, he prescribed a foreign policy that he summed up as tāoguāng-yǎnghuì (Chinese: 韬光养晦; lit.
'wolf warrior diplomacy') entered Chinese media in the latter half of 2019, in the aftermath of a heated exchange on Twitter between Zhao Lijian and Susan Rice on 13 July 2019.
[14] In February 2020, Zhao Lijian became a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was described by Chinese media as an "Internet celebrity" and a "Wolf Warrior Diplomat".
[15] According to Bloomberg News reporter Peter F. Martin, "After the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Chinese diplomats felt under attack but also proud of the way that their country has handled the crisis.
[1] In December 2020, at an address to a conference at Renmin University in Beijing, Foreign Minister Le Yucheng was reported, in Western media, as defending the use of "rhetorical tit-for-tat" as a way of “solving the problems of being scolded” by other countries.
He said that foreign countries "are coming to our doorstep, interfering in our family affairs, constantly nagging at us, insulting and discrediting us, [so] we have no choice but to firmly defend our national interests and dignity.
Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy (2017) had legitimized a more active role for China on the world stage, including its engagement in open ideological struggle with the West.
[31] In September 2024, international relations scholar Shaoyu Yuan argued that China has shifted from its assertive wolf warrior diplomacy to a more accommodating diplomatic approach, primarily motivated by domestic economic challenges, including a slowing economy.
The story of China's Ambassador to France (1998–2003) Wu Jianmin (1939–2016) having had the French Embassy's dogs set on him as a child in Nanjing, has been used as a justification for aggressive "Wolf Warrior" diplomatic language.
[1][35] Since 2020, Western analysts have made different assessments of the extent to which senior diplomatic officials in China have, at various times and in various ways, advocated the use of Wolf Warrior tactics.
[25] In 2023, Bloomberg reporter Peter Martin asserted that although "many Chinese diplomats are aware that the response to wolf warrior diplomacy has been very negative and actually damaged China's interests in a wide range of cases...those who have misgivings need to keep their thoughts to themselves for now, or they will face political repercussions."
Aside from China's leader Xi Jinping himself, both the Chinese foreign affairs and the state media/propaganda system have prominent proponents of "wolf warrior" diplomacy or its style of communication.
These include Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokespeople and diplomats Zhao Lijian, Hua Chunying, Wang Wenbin, Liu Xiaoming, and CCP-owned Global Times columnist Hu Xijin.
Several political parties publicly expressed that they believe the ambassador should be declared persona non grata and deported on the basis that his actions violated the constitution of Sweden.
[48] Reuters reported Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison describing Zhao's tweet as "truly repugnant" and stating that "the Chinese government should be utterly ashamed of this post.
"[53] The Ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, was summoned twice by the French foreign ministry, first in April 2020 over posts and tweets by the embassy defending Beijing's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and criticising the West's handling of it, then in March 2021 over "insults and threats" over new economic sanctions placed on China for its crackdown against the Uyghur minority.
[54] Previously as Ambassador to Canada, Shaye accused Canadian media of "Western egotism and white supremacy" and disparaged their work on the ground that they are in a lesser position to judge China's development compared to the Chinese people.
These typically young voices have long called for Chinese officials to be less ‘submissive’ in the international arena, even joking that diplomats should be given calcium tablets so they can grow some backbone.
[65]: 132 As of at least 2024, some Western analysts assert that opposition to Wolf Warrior tactics is still a minority view within the foreign policy establishment,[65]: 136 despite the 2023 demotion of Zhao Lijian[30] and Xi Jinping's May 2021 speech to the 30th collective study session of the CCP Politburo.
[72][73] Cat warrior diplomacy is seen as focusing on the soft power aspects of Taiwan's advanced economy, democracy, and respect for human rights as well as using Chinese aggression to highlight the differences between their two political systems.
[75]: 237 This case was presented by the IRSEM report as an example of wolf warrior diplomacy, demonstrating the perverse effect of this strategy of influence, the embassy having drawn attention to the work of Antoine Bondaz by wanting to discredit him.
It was part of a sequence from March 15 to 22, 2021 with "disastrous" consequences for China's public image in France and contributed increasing the awareness of political leaders and the French population on the practices of Chinese authorities.
