Fighting off ‘mad dogs’ is key to wolf warrior diplomacy, Chinese envoy in Paris says
A top Chinese diplomat has dismayed observers in France by defending his country’s “wolf warrior” style of aggressive diplomacy, saying Chinese diplomats were responsible for fending off “mad dogs.”
Lu Shaye, the Chinese ambassador to France, told the l’Opinion newspaper on Thursday that the term “wolf warrior” had a positive tone in China and he was proud to be described as one.
“We are warriors who defend China and confront mad dogs,” Lu said. The diplomat early this year caused a backlash in France after calling French researcher Antoine Bondaz a “little rascal” for speaking out against Beijing’s opposition to a planned official visit to Taiwan.
In another interview on Wednesday, Lu told Guancha, a mainland Chinese news website, that the yardstick for measuring Chinese diplomats’ performance was to see if they could make the Chinese people back home happy, rather than satisfying foreigners.
Beijing has shifted to a more aggressive style of diplomacy because the power balance between China and other countries had changed, Lu said. China needed to counter foreign provocations and threats.
The Chinese envoy also discussed how China engaged foreign non-diplomats, such as academics and journalists, to join its “wolf warrior” diplomacy.
“We need journalists and academics with a firm political stance and sufficient confidence.... It doesn’t have to be many. Two or three people can be the point people. They will be able to combine forces with our diplomats to form a three-dimensional battle formation in public opinion wars,” Lu said.
Assistance should be given to China’s friends in Western countries, such as French writer Maxime Vivas who wrote a book about muslim Uyghur minority groups in Xinjiang, he said.
Lu’s latest remarks have yet again caused strong reactions in France.
Bondaz, a researcher at Paris-based think tank the Foundation for Strategic Research, said Lu’s interviews would have been better if “his open lies and spread of conspiracy theories were [rejected to his face].”
Piotr Smolar, a foreign affairs correspondent at the French newspaper Le Monde, tweeted it would be an understatement to say Lu’s remarks have caused discomfort. The newspaper published an article analyzing Lu’s speeches on Thursday.
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