By Fong Yuen

Xi Jinping presided over the recent Politburo meeting and invited “spin doctor” Zhang Weiwei to come up with a grand plan for China’s foreign propaganda. Enlightening the members of the Politburo, Xi Jinping advocated “the stress on grasping the tone, which should be open, confidence, yet modest and humble, and to shape a reliable, admirable and respectable image of China.” He also emphasized to extensively “promote China’s stand, wisdom and approach, as the country as the ability as well as responsibility to play a bigger role in global affairs and make greater contributions to jointly solving problems of humanity with other countries.”

Shaping this and promoting that, all are but singing the same old tunes. The only slightly more creative idea is the sudden demand to be “modest and humble”, and to shape a “reliable, admirable, and respectable” image of China. With this “high-level” face-changing, some foreign commentaries are claiming that the CCP’s “wolf warrior diplomacy” has now been adjusted to “panda diplomacy”.

The CCP’s wolf warrior diplomacy stemmed from a total misjudgment of the CCP’s domestic and international situations. The CCP believes that the communist ideology had the chance to be spread to the whole world, that the CCP’s national strength had the capability to be a world hegemony, and that the CCP’s culture had the tenacity to ascend upon the world to influence it. Zhang Weiwei even came to his “three-doesn’t” conclusion that “the U.S. doesn’t unite, the E.U. doesn’t obey, China doesn’t buy it.” These misjudgments are the origin of the CCP’s “extraordinary” confidence that has allowed the CCP to go wild under its intoxication.

Universal value is the trend of the times, while Communism is a spent force, so how is the latter to be widely used by the world? Even if the CCP has a robust national strength, Western developed countries have a solid foundation, and it only takes an awakening to be united, so how is the CCP going to be a world hegemony? The CCP’s authoritarian culture goes against human nature, so how can it stand up to the diverse and free cultures of the other countries?

Time and again, the CCP has found itself catching a tartar with its wolf warrior diplomacy, yet it seems like it has not learned a lesson at all. Today, the whole world has turned against it. Now that the walls are closing in, the CCP is finally reflecting on its wolf warrior diplomacy. To use a common Hongkonger phrase: too little, too late!

At the start of the U.S.-Sino trade talks, if the CCP had correctly gauged the strengths of both sides and adopted a pragmatic attitude, the two would have achieved harmony, and there would not have been the series of decoupling that followed; When Covid rampaged the world, if the CCP had been nicer toward international investigations, if it hadn’t blamed the U.S. army for spreading the virus, it wouldn’t have angered the other countries as much; The E.U. had been engaged in an argument with the U.S., and if the CCP had not shot verbal attacks, the Sino-E.U. investment deals would not have collapsed. Now that the E.U. has turned its face, ASEAN is acting cold, the U.S. is going all out, there is not a friendly face around for the CCP. The wolf warrior is at a loss and wandering into a swamp.

If to put up another face today, to suddenly act “modest and humble” to the outside world, to demonstrate the “reliable, admirable, and respectable” image, to appear all kind-hearted, gentle, and friendly to everyone, how is something like this to be stomached? Wouldn’t this be a little “gross”? How would this sustain the minimum dignity of the CCP on the international stage? How would one explain this to the patriotic “little pinks” within the border? What a grotesque switcheroo, yet there is no other option. Yet even with this, if the CCP is unable to get out of its current impasse in the end, wouldn’t this all be in vain?

The hostility of Western countries toward the CCP did not stem from wolf warrior diplomacy. Wolf warrior diplomacy is a phenomenon that is rooted in the CCP’s ambition to be a world hegemony. In foreign diplomacy, verbal bickering is inevitable. Yang Jiechi was obnoxious in the U.S.-China talks, while Blinken retorted in the calmest way. It is the most important thing to abide by international rules, neither too humble, nor overbearing. One must know when to advance, and when to retreat. Simply going full force with aggression and nastiness is just disgusting.

The CCP’s ambition is to be at the center of the world, to promote the Chinese model and the Chinese solutions, and to liberate all of mankind. These are all ultimate threats to the existing world order led by the U.S. and other European countries. This also means that even if the CCP is willing to ease up on its aggression and amend its wolf warrior diplomacy, the U.S. and other European countries are unlikely to easily let it go.

In all of the CCP’s history, wolf warrior diplomacy had never been practiced. Take Mao Zedong for example, when faced with threats from the Soviet Union, he did not hesitate to buddy up with sworn enemy, the U.S., to fight the closer enemy. He also proposed the “third-world” theory to win over allies. When it came to Deng Xiaoping, he intentionally kissed up to the U.S by stressing that any country that is friendly with the U.S. would do well in its economic development. In the eras of Jiang Zemin-Zhu Rongji and Hu Jintao-Wen Jiabao, the leaders kept a low profile and avoided conflicts with the outside. A country’s diplomacy is public relations. There has never been PR that was successful by offending others. However, if the country’s major policies are determined by “the one and only”, when the almighty ordered wolf warrior diplomacy, nobody would dare to object. The whole government system is awaiting amendment by the almighty, while the almighty is waiting for the U.S. to bend the knee to prove his sageness. All of this waiting eventually landed us here today – an irreversible, colossal mistake.

Whether the CCP is truly giving up its wolf warrior diplomacy, only time will tell. Even if it is given up, it is no resurrection. This is for sure.

(Published Monday to Saturday)

This article is translated from Chinese by Apple Daily.

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