India watches China’s 'wolf warriors' diplomacy

In comparison to her Pakistani counterpart Aisha Farooqui, China's Foreign Ministry information chief Hua Chunying is relatively less known in India. Names of her deputies Geng Shuang and Zhao Lijian also don't really ring a bell, barring odd mentions during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

But in the United States, a lot is being written about the trio, especially Hua whose aggressive, sometimes fiery, comments about the Donald Trump administration in her foreign ministry briefings—and also on social media—are grabbing quite a few eyeballs.

In the tense relationship between both the countries, Hua is batting on the front foot and scoring home runs too.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2280" src="https://indianarrative.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/hua-tweets.jpg" alt="" />

Accusations and counter-accusations are gathering pace from the big fellas but one needs to dig a little deeper to study the huge impact this new offensive style of diplomacy being pushed by China's Communist party is having on world politics.

The name of the new game is 'wolf-warrior' diplomacy. Hua Chunying, Geng Shuang, Zhao Lijian, and some more are being referred to as the 'wolf warrior' diplomats. No longer the shy and low-key types the world was used to seeing before, they talk tough.

<img class="wp-image-2277 size-full" src="https://indianarrative.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/d20b09a038b21304c3480835bccb58e1.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="300" /> Hua Chunying, Director General, Department of Information, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Wolf Warrior, released first in 2015, and Wolf Warrior 2 are two blockbuster Chinese movies in which a Chinese Rambo-like elite forces soldier takes on the might of American-led mercenaries.

"Anyone who offends China, no matter how remote, must be exterminated," read the poster of the jingoistic movie.

Wolf Warrior 2, released last year, is "a window into state propaganda—and the population’s beliefs, too," said a film critic.

Guided by the movie's main mantra and Xi Jinping's leadership, the narrative has been gradually changed by the Chinese Foreign Ministry over the last three years.

Coronavirus, criticism from the entire world, and the mess originating in Wuhan brought the 'wolf warriors' to the forefront like never before. And it isn't just limited to outbursts in Foreign Ministry briefings or on Twitter.

<img class="wp-image-2278 size-full" src="https://indianarrative.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/151866b1e579ebbffd37c61b8c160f4f.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="424" /> Lijian Zhao, Spokesman, Information Department, Foreign Ministry, China

Last month, France’s Foreign Minister summoned aggressive and outspoken Chinese envoy Lu Shaye for publishing controversial articles on the embassy's website which suggested that the Western countries had left their pensioners to die in nursing homes.

"As Canadians, we both miss and don't miss Lu Shaye, China's rude and highly undiplomatic envoy to Ottawa before he was dispatched to Paris. For us, he epitomized everything that's wrong with the CCP [Chinese Communist Party]," said J. Michale Cole, a Senior Fellow from the Macdonald-Laurier and Global Taiwan Institute.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">As Canadians we both miss and don't miss Lu Shaye, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/China?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#China</a>'s rude and highly undiplomatic envoy to Ottawa before he was dispatched to Paris. For us, he epitomized everything that's wrong with the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CCP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CCP</a>. And he's at it again, this time in the Ville Lumière. <a href="https://t.co/HVkguPNsWh">https://t.co/HVkguPNsWh</a> <a href="https://t.co/dVJvi4WPFs">pic.twitter.com/dVJvi4WPFs</a></p>
— J Michael Cole (寇謐將) (@JMichaelCole1) <a href="https://twitter.com/JMichaelCole1/status/1250307239023218688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

While the Chinese offensive is currently focusing on the Americans, Hua has, in the past, commented about Ladakh being declared a Union Territory.

"We urge India to exercise prudence in words and deeds concerning the boundary question, strictly abide by relevant agreements concluded between the two sides and avoid taking any move that may further complicate the boundary question," she had said last August.

This was certainly wolfish rather than diplomatic..