Beijing’s “war wolf diplomacy” has turned heads around the world, but Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Tiancheng said Saturday that the diplomacy is a “speech trap” and that China has always been a country of etiquette.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has been ridiculed as a “war wolf minister,” mainly because he is “overbearing” in his dealings with foreign countries and his diplomats are not good at diplomatic rhetoric. While the “three inch tongue” mediates, maneuvers, and does its best to minimize major problems, Chinese envoys abroad are often seen as provocative, not to defuse problems, but to make them bigger. Hence, the name “war wolf diplomacy”.
The one who is considered representative is Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, who is rude and destructive, and whose final result seems to be of little benefit to China. For example, in March of this year, when the international community was asking China to open an independent investigation into the origin of the new coronavirus, the United States accused China of not responding effectively at the early stage, leading to a pandemic. “Zhao Lijian has apparently contributed to worsening U.S.-China relations. However, Zhao Lijian’s recent behavior has been accused of becoming more and more out of the ordinary. After Beijing recently revoked the qualifications of four members of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy legislature, on November 18, the foreign ministers of the “Five Eyes Coalition,” composed of the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, issued a joint statement late at night, asking China to withdraw the National People’s Congress (NPC) authorization for the HKSAR to revoke the qualifications of four members of the legislature. The decision on eligibility immediately reinstated the four men. The five-nation coalition questioned Beijing’s move as a premeditated attempt to silence dissenting voices. Zhao Lijian’s statement at a regular press conference the following day was startling: “Whether they have five eyes or ten, if they dare to undermine China’s sovereignty, security and development interests, beware of their eyes being poked out.” Zhao Lijian’s latest manifestation is that the Chinese Foreign Ministry was busy trying to find reasons to defend Zhao Lijian after he tweeted a fake picture of an Australian soldier hacking an Afghan soldier in a horrific manner, which was strongly condemned by Australia and its allies.
Zhao Lijian and some of China’s envoys have been so provocative that they have been called “war wolves,” so much so that there is a clear logic in describing China’s diplomacy as “war wolf diplomacy,” which began after Xi Jinping took full power.
In his keynote speech at the Third China Think Tank International Influence Forum on Saturday, Le Tiancheng said, “To label us as ‘war wolf diplomacy’ is at least a misunderstanding of China’s diplomacy,” adding that China has always been a country of etiquette and valued peace, and “has never taken the initiative to provoke others, nor has it gone to others’ doorsteps or even to their homes to stir up trouble.
Le Tiancheng is not trying to use China’s history as a ceremonial state to cover up the serious lack of diplomatic etiquette today, he said, “People come to our doorstep to show off” and China has to rise up to defend itself.
But some observers have questioned who would dare to show off at China’s doorstep today. Look at the way Beijing has trashed a prosperous Hong Kong, the forced concentration of millions of Muslims in Xinjiang, and the unrelenting crackdown on human rights activists at home.
Le Tiancheng concluded that the Wolf diplomacy is actually another version of “China’s threat theory”, another “speech trap”, and “the purpose is to make us fight back and not talk back. …… ” The Chinese government’s response to the “curses” is that the Chinese government has a long way to go before it can stop the curses from popping up again.
Le Tiancheng’s remarks were contradictory, and he quoted Xi Jinping as saying, “Being backward means being beaten up, being poor means being hungry, and losing one’s voice means being scolded,” so China now needs to solve the problem of “being scolded.
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