‘Wolf warrior’ Zhao Lijian given a ‘lateral demotion” by Foreign Ministry

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian’s stint as Beijing’s most infamous diplomat has come to an end.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian speaks to reporters in Beijing. Picture: Reuters.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian has been given a “lateral demotion” to a nearly invisible bureaucratic role, ending his time as China’s most infamous “wolf warrior” diplomat.

Mr Zhao, who caused a diplomatic dispute when he posted a doctored photo depicting an Australian soldier threatening to slit a child’s throat, has been moved to the foreign ministry’s Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs. He will be one of three deputy directors.

“This department is not a place to fast-track someone’s career,” said Wen-Ti Sung, an expert on Chinese foreign policy at the Australian National University

Mr Zhao, China’s former deputy head of mission in Pakistan, rocketed to prominence after his appointment as the foreign ministry’s spokesman in February 2020. In the role, he led Beijing’s pushback against criticism of China’s early handling of the pandemic.

Weeks into his time as spokesman, he was cheered on by nationalist supporters as he spread a conspiracy theory that said the US was the original source of the coronavirus.

“Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!” Mr Zhao wrote in an extraordinary series of tweets in March 2020.

In late 2020, he posted a computer-generated image showing an Australian soldier holding a knife to an Afghan girl’s throat with the caption: “Shocked by the murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers.”

Then prime Mmnister Scott Morrison demanded the Chinese government apologise and delete the “repugnant” and “falsified image” posted from Mr Zhao’s verified Twitter.

The “wolf warrior” diplomat has recently drawn controversy on Chinese social media after his wife made several posts on the Chinese social media Weibo, revealing her husband was unable to get any medicine when he was infected with Covid last month and that their son was studying in Germany.

Some have cautioned about overinterpreting Mr Zhao’s reassignment, noting the continuation of President Xi Jinping’s demand that China’s diplomats show “fighting spirit”.

“It would be nice if his lateral demotion is a sign of a more substantive shift, but we need to see a lot more before concluding something more meaningful is under way,” said Bill Bishop, author of the Sinocism newsletter.