China’s Wolf Warrior diplomats battle on Twitter for control of coronavirus narrative

Donald Trump’s favourite social media platform is the latest arena for back-and-forth blame game between US and China

The real audience for strident Chinese diplomacy is probably at home, in an effort to fuel nationalist sentiment, analysts say

Reading Time:4 minutes

Actor Wu Jing as the Wolf Warrior, title character in a Chinese film of the same name, which is also being used to describe the aggressive diplomats trying to change the narrative on China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: Handout

Published: 11:25am, 23 Mar 2020Updated: 11:50pm, 23 Mar 2020

Chinese diplomats are taking an increasingly strident tone on US President Donald Trump’s favourite battleground Twitter, as Beijing works to shift the narrative away from its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, which was first reported in central China last year.

Chinese state-run media outlets and at least 115 identifiable Twitter accounts belonging to diplomats, embassies and consulates have been ramping up what some have described as a “Wolf Warrior” style of diplomacy – after a 2015 patriotic film, and its 2017 sequel, of the same name.

Chinese diplomats have been particularly aggressive on Twitter, with many joining the platform last year, amplifying Beijing’s efforts to contain the epidemic, its aid and support to other countries, and heavily criticising the US for its response to the pandemic.

“China has been updating the US on the coronavirus and its response since Jan. 3,” China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying tweeted on Thursday. “And now blame China for delay? Seriously?”

The back-and-forth blame game on Twitter between China and the US has taken their strategic rivalry into a new arena, with analysts noting the growing online combativeness of Chinese diplomats – deputy foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian went as far as promoting a conspiracy theory that the disease originated in the US.

Zhao, who has amassed more than 430,000 followers on Twitter, has been seen as the face of Beijing’s more belligerent diplomatic approach. He has tweeted more than 58,000 times, including his repeating of fringe claims about the US Army bringing the coronavirus to China.

Trump referred to the tweets on Wednesday, saying that he called the coronavirus the “Chinese virus” despite criticism it would encourage racism and xenophobia in the US, since “China tried to say at one point, maybe they stopped, that it was caused by American soldiers. That can’t happen … It comes from China.”

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