China has transferred a senior diplomat closely associated with the Foreign Ministry’s more confrontational shift in recent years to a new role, in the latest sign that Beijing is rethinking its so-called Wolf Warrior approach.
(Bloomberg) — China has transferred a senior diplomat closely associated with the Foreign Ministry’s more confrontational shift in recent years to a new role, in the latest sign that Beijing is rethinking its so-called Wolf Warrior approach.
Zhao Lijian, 50, has been named deputy director of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs, the Foreign Ministry disclosed on its website Monday. While technically a lateral move, the new post is far less prominent than the spokesperson’s podium, where Zhao had since February 2020 become one of China’s most prominent public officials, with almost 8 million followers on the Weibo social media platform.
The move comes less than two weeks after China’s former ambassador to the US, Qin Gang — a one-time Foreign Ministry spokesman himself — was named foreign minister. Qin, 56, has demonstrated a more traditional, less social-media-driven approach and signaled a desire to mend ties with nations like the US and Australia, some of the most prominent targets of Zhao’s criticism.
The personnel shifts coincide with a push by Xi to reengage the US and its allies, holding his first in-person summit with President Joe Biden in Bali, Indonesia, in November. Xi has sought to improve relations with leaders of top US allies, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Australian leader Anthony Albanese.
Speaking on Tuesday at a regular press briefing in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said “comrade Zhao Lijian has moved to a new position according to the needs of our work.”
The Asian nation’s diplomatic approach “upholds world peace and promotes common development,” Wang said, adding that it was “unequivocal and firm” on issues that touched on issues like sovereignty.
Zhao rose to prominence with an unusually combative Twitter persona while serving in China’s mission to Pakistan, including a heated July 2019 exchange with former U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice about alleged racial segregation in Washington. He quickly became associated with a more confrontational generation of “Wolf Warrior” diplomats, referring to a series of action films depicting a Rambo-like hero vanquishing foreign foes.
His appointment to the spokesperson’s office in August 2019 was seen as an endorsement of Zhao’s style from above, and numerous other Chinese diplomats around the world embraced it. In the early days of the pandemic, Zhao prompted outrage in the US by promoting a conspiracy theory about the origin of Covid-19, questioning whether it was brought to Wuhan by visiting American athletes.
Zhao also courted controversy when he tweeted an apparent reference to allegations that Australian soldiers in Afghanistan were involved in unlawful killings, prompting the Australian prime minister to demand an apology. Last year, Zhao was among the chief purveyors of Russian-backed conspiracy theories about US bioweapons labs in Ukraine.
See: Why China’s Diplomats Snarl at ‘Wolf Warrior’ Label
The assertive approach was popular with Chinese internet audiences eager for a response to then-US President Donald Trump’s Twitter-driven foreign policy. But it also contributed to a collapse in public support across the developed world, with the share of people in the US with unfavorable views of China rising to 82% in 2021.
News of Zhao’s transfer had attracted more than 23 million readers on Weibo as of Tuesday morning, with many interpreting it as a demotion. The Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs oversees policies on land and maritime boundaries, including the slow-moving negotiations with Southeast Asian nations to establish a code of conduct in the South China Sea.
Some Chinese internet users attributed the move to a widely circulated Weibo post in November purportedly coming from Zhao’s partner, suggesting that he worked too hard without enough recognition. “His wife’s wish has come true,” one comment read.
Others also read the move as related to the China’s efforts to tone down its diplomacy. “Brother Jian is more hawkish, which may make him less suitable for the adjustment in our foreign policy,” one Weibo user said, using a nickname for Zhao. “When we need the hawk again, we will let it out.”
He had already been hosting the Foreign Ministry’s daily news briefing less frequently in recent months. Zhao had 19 appearances at the podium from Sept. 1 to the end of the year, compared with 72 in the first eight months of the year. His most recent appearance was Dec. 2.
–With assistance from April Ma.
(Updates with comment from China’s Foreign Ministry.)
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