China: Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian dismissed. The end of “wolf diplomacy”?

Zhao Lijianwho has been a facet of Chinese diplomacy since 2019, has been moved to a lesser-known deputy director position in a department.

An official who stirs up intense emotions He was not only the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but also the deputy head of the Information Department. He gained popularity a little earlier, when as deputy ambassador to Pakistan, he got into online arguments with people questioning Beijing’s actions.

A Chinese diplomat has accused the Western press of slandering China, particularly over reports of human rights abuses in Xinjiang province and during protests in Hong Kong.

He also spread conspiracy theories and repeatedly disinformed the Kremlin about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He has publicly indicated that the coronavirus that causes Covid may have originated in US military laboratories and transferred to China. On another occasion, he threatened to “gouge out the eyes” of the Western intelligence services of the so-called Five Eyes Alliance. In 2020, he posted a computer-generated image of an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghan girl on his account – a reaction to accusations of war crimes by Australians in Afghanistan.

Although Zhao has gained a reputation on the Internet, his style has aroused suspicions among diplomacy experts as leading to unnecessary conflicts with foreign partners.

Some commentators suggest that the decision to remove the Ombudsman from public view may not have been affected by this however His wife’s activity on the Weibo microblogging platform. Zhao’s partner bragged about her traveling abroad and posing without a mask at a time when authorities were imposing strict restrictions on the spread of the pandemic. She also admitted it I used TwitterWhich is illegal for ordinary Chinese.

In December he ended his service as Secretary of State Wang Yiknown to be publicly stated “Whoever plays with fire will be burned, and whoever insults China will be punished.” And Raise your voice against a Canadian journalist After being asked about human rights violations in the Middle Kingdom. Wang was replaced by the former ambassador to the United States Qin Gang – Supporter of improving Sino-US relations.

Wang and Zhao belonged to a group of so-called wolf warriors and diplomats who, with the permission of the government Vigorously defend the policies of the Chinese Communist Party.

Analysts wonder if the replacement of the controversial officials indicates that China has backed away from such hard-line rhetoric. However, many point out that although a moderate correction is possible, it will not end the rivalry between China and the United States or the conflict of values ​​with the West.