China’s wolf warrior diplomat, who goaded Morrison, moved to obscure post

The Chinese diplomat who goaded former prime minister Scott Morrison by tweeting a faked war crimes image has been moved on from his high-profile job as a foreign affairs spokesman, in the latest sign that Beijing is rethinking its so-called wolf warrior approach.

Zhao Lijian has been named deputy director of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on its website. The ministry currently has three other spokespeople, including Hua Chunying, Wang Wenbin and Mao Ning.

Former Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian last spoke at the ministry on December 2. Credit: AP

The move comes after China’s ambassador to the US, Qin Gang, left his role to become foreign minister. He replaces Wang Yi, who met Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in one of his last appearances as foreign minister, in what proved the clearest indication yet that Beijing wants to rebuild ties with Australia three years after the last ministerial visit to the Chinese capital.

The appointment of the new foreign minister is one of several signs that China may adopt a softer touch after several years of tough talk. Qin has been known to walk a fine line between defending China’s interests and projecting a moderate take on Beijing’s positions.

Zhao, in contrast, drew attention from his first appearance as spokesperson in February 2020 as an exemplar of what the international press dubbed “wolf warrior diplomacy”, referring to a series of films depicting Chinese heroes vanquishing foreign foes. Shortly after assuming the role in the early days of the pandemic, Zhao prompted outrage in the US by promoting a conspiracy theory about the origin of COVID.

“When did patient zero begin in US?” Zhao wrote. “How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!”

In November 2020, Zhao triggered a furious response from Morrison with a tweet that featured a doctored image of an Australian special forces soldier slitting the throat of an Afghan child cradling a lamb. In a press conference, Morrison demanded an apology from Beijing, describing the tweet as an “absolutely outrageous and disgusting slur”.

In the same month, as China halted timber shipments and blocked live lobster exports from Australia, Zhao threatened retaliation after the Five Eyes foreign ministers from Australia, Canada, the US, Britain and New Zealand condemned moves to disqualify Hong Kong’s opposition MPs.

“No matter how many eyes they have, five or 10 or whatever, should anyone dare to undermine China’s sovereignty, security and development interests, be careful not to get poked in the eye,” he said at his nightly press briefing.

Zhao joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1996 and was dispatched to Washington during Barack Obama’s first term in office. He gained notoriety after he was posted to Pakistan in 2015 and started tweeting insults aimed at the US.

In 2019, after former US national security adviser Susan Rice described him as “a racist disgrace” for tweets about race and property in Washington DC, he left Pakistan when he was promoted to deputy director-general of the information department at the Foreign Ministry.

He last spoke at the ministry’s daily press conference on December 2, when he defended Beijing’s COVID-zero policies as anti-lockdown protests swept the country.

On Tuesday, Zhao’s Twitter account was changed to note his new role, which has a much lower profile.

With Bloomberg

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