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Liu Zhen

Retired but still influential Chinese diplomat Wu Jianmin, one of the prominent dovish figures in China’s foreign policy, died in a traffic accident on Saturday. He was 77.
Amid the nationalist frenzy of a rising China, Wu steadily reminded people to stay calm and rational.
The former Chinese ambassador to France, the Netherlands and the United Nations in Geneva, he was still an advisor to the Foreign Ministry’s consultative committee on foreign policies after retirement.
In his last public speech last week, he told a forum in Beijing that people must be stay vigilant to nationalism and populism, which if combined could be extremely dangerous in China.
We must be clear that populism is essentially against reform, and nationalism is essentially against opening up
Wu Jianmin
“Nationalism always disguises itself as patriotism, which is innocent, while populism is always dressed up as standing for the people,” Wu said.
“Both are highly deceiving. But we must be clear that populism is essentially against reform, and nationalism is essentially against opening up.”
On the “exaggerated” tension around the South China Sea, in April he also said China should stay calm, think comprehensively and be confident that the disputes could be solved peacefully.
Wu was on his way from the airport to the Wuhan University early on Saturday to deliver a speech later that day when the van driven by a local driver crashed at the exit of a tunnel.
The veteran diplomat, whose career spanned 57 years, was to host an event to promote public diplomacy in Beijing on Sunday.

Wu started as a French language translator at the Foreign Ministry in 1959, and interpreted for top Chinese leaders until 1971, when he was sent to the United Nations as a member of the first delegation to represent the People’s Republic of China.
In recognition of Wu’s hard work as a political counsellor in Brussels for embattled Beijing after the 1989 Tiananmen incident, the ministry promoted him to spokesman, a position he described as “like walking on the thin ice” for the next four years.
Wu’s later career as ambassador in Europe earned him the reputation of a “charming gentleman diplomat”. His mission to France was considered so successful that French president Jacques Chirac awarded him a Chevalier medal of Legion of Honour, one of Frances highest orders of merit at his departure in 2003.
At 64, Wu moved on to head the China Foreign Affairs University, a specialised college of the foreign ministry known as “cradle of diplomats”.

While serving as an interpreter for first generation Communist leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, Wu picked up their strategic thinking on diplomacy, his successor at the University, Qin Yaqing, said.
The most important idea he conveyed to the students and faculty and was that China has to stick to the road of reform and opening
Qin Yaqing, president, China Foreign Affairs University
“The most important idea he conveyed to the students and faculty and was that China has to stick to the road of reform and opening,” Qin was quoted by the China News Service as saying.
Shocked by the news of his death, students at the CFAU voluntarily held a memorial for Wu on Saturday evening on campus, which Qin attended.
Wu retired as CFAU president in 2008, but continued to be outspoken about China’s foreign affairs in frequent speeches and articles.
In 2014, Wu participated in a televised debate with rear admiral Luo Yuan, a well-known hawkish military commentator, on whether China should continue its “low-profile and self-restraining” diplomacy established by paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.

Any nation that starts a war in a time of peace and development, would paid a dear price for it, Wu said, adding that “China should never do that”.
War of words erupts between Chinese ex-ambassador and editor of nationalist tabloid
In April, Wu criticised the popular nationalist tabloid Global Times and its editor Hu Xijin as being “extreme” and ignorant about foreign affairs.
Being too “dovish” against the trend of nationalism also attracted fierce criticism of Wu online. But he did not seem to mind.
“My purpose of saying such things is to push people to think,” he said. “I would prefer to see different schools voice their opinions.”


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Obituaries

Wu Jianmin: Dovish gentleman diplomat and critic of nationalism

Wu Jianmin was a career diplomat who had little time for nationalism and believed the tensions in the South China Sea ‘were exaggerated’. Photo by Simon Song

Chinese Ambassador Wu Jianmin asks for the floor at the Commission on Human Rights at Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday,Mar.11,1997.At right Chinese delegate Li Baodong.(AP Photo/Donald Stampfli.)

Hu Xijin, chief editor of Global Times poses for a photo in Beijing on April 20, 2011. 20APR11 Photo by Simon Song

Luo Yuan (left) and Wu Jinin (right) are debating in a TV show in the Phoenix Television on July 20, 2014.

News

China

Politics

Former ambassador to France, Netherlands and UN in Geneva warned that China must never depart from its policy of opening up
