Beijing: China on Thursday said its diplomats will display “fighting spirit” and “dare to fight” to protect the country’s sovereignty and security, indicating that the country’s aggressive and controversial style of Wolf Warrior diplomacy will continue in the coming years under Xi Jinping, who is poised to secure a unprecedented third term as China’s leader on Sunday.
“Dare to fight and be good at fighting are (part of) the fine traditions and spiritual character of China’s diplomacy,” vice-foreign minister, Ma Zhaoxu said on Thursday on the sidelines of the twice-in-a-decade national congress of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing.
“Chinese diplomacy will continue to display fighting spirit, improve our ability to fight, and always stand ready at the frontline to protect our national interest and dignity,” Ma was quoted by the Chinese state media as saying at the press conference.
“Our resolve to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation will be rock hard and unshakable,” he added.
Wolf Warrior diplomacy, which takes the name from a popular Chinese war movie, symbolises an aggressive and confrontational, even hostile, type of diplomacy on a public stage, including on social media.
Ma’s assertion comes against the backdrop of an investigation by the UK police into the allegation that a Hong Kong protester was on Sunday dragged into the Chinese consulate in Manchester and assaulted.
The Chinese foreign ministry has dismissed the allegation, saying it had lodged representations with Britain over what it called “malicious harassment” by lawless elements.
Citing a report delivered by Xi on Sunday, Ma said China has entered a period of development in which strategic opportunities, risks and challenges are “concurrent and uncertainties and unforeseen factors are rising”.
China’s diplomatic front needs to “carry on the fighting spirit to bolster the people’s will, courage and confidence, refrain from pressure and containment, brave hardships, strive to consolidate development and security and safeguard the country’s sovereignty, security and development interests,” Ma added.
Experts have pointed out that China’s Wolf Warrior diplomacy under Xi is at odds with Xi’s other oft-repeated doctrine, which is the “shared future for mankind”.
“Xi’s diplomacy contains two conflicting components: A liberal and egalitarian ‘shared future for mankind’ and a realist ‘dare to fight’. Wolf warrior diplomacy reflects only the realist ‘fighting spirit’,” China experts Yaoyao Dai and Luwei Rose Luqio, wrote for the China Review, published by The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, in May.
The contradiction is likely to remain, given that Xi himself was clear in Sunday’s speech about the challenges Chinese diplomacy is facing.
“Confronted with drastic changes in the international landscape, especially external attempts to blackmail, contain, blockade and exert maximum pressure on China, we have put our national interests first, focussed on internal political concerns and maintained firm strategic resolve,” Xi said.
“We have shown a fighting spirit and a firm determination to never yield to coercive power,” Xi said.
Giving an overview of Chinese diplomacy, Ma said the Chinese government had evacuated over 5,200 Chinese citizens from Ukraine since Russia invaded the country.
“After the escalation of tensions in Ukraine, our diplomats, who acted in accordance with the decisions and instructions of the CPC Central Committee, promptly evacuated over 5,200 of our compatriots, they are healthy and unhurt,” he said.
Ma said the number of countries that established diplomatic ties with China increased from 172 to 181 in the past decade while the number of countries and regional organisations that established partnerships with China increased from 41 to 113.
