No Wolf Warriors here: foreign minister sends message of ‘responsible China’

An uncharacteristically patient Wang Yi addressed questions about a range of contentious issues from local and foreign journalists

‘Propaganda cannot restore international image. Action does. Money does. Foreign aid and vaccines do,’ says Washington-based analyst

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Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds a press conference on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress on Sunday. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 10:30pm, 8 Mar 2021Updated: 12:09am, 9 Mar 2021

Foreign Minister Wang Yi tried to present China in a positive light amid growing negative perceptions of his country in the post-coronavirus world, shining a spotlight on how Beijing plans to flip that unfavourable narrative in its rivalry with Western democracies.

In a carefully scripted and controlled press conference on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress on Sunday, Wang fielded more than two dozen questions covering a wide range of international and domestic hotspots, including Xinjiang, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the South China Sea.

While most questions were framed in a less critical way this year and were about specific foreign policy issues or China’s relations with various parts of the world, they were by and large centred on one particular topic: China’s global image problem.

Without acknowledging the problem directly, Wang appeared unusually patient and well prepared to take on widespread criticism and concerns about China’s rise, its aggressive post-coronavirus diplomacy and the rapid deterioration of its ties with the United States and its allies.

Wang’s tone was generally modest and less combative, compared to China’s infamous Wolf Warrior-style diplomats, according to pundits. But the major messages he tried to communicate were largely similar to those of his foreign ministry colleagues – that China is innocent and a victim of bullying and vilification by the US and other Western powers.

He defended the coronavirus-hit Belt and Road Initiative and China’s Covid-19 vaccine diplomacy and deflected mounting criticism over Beijing’s handling of Xinjiang and Hong Kong, citing them as the country’s internal affairs. Throughout the press conference, he projected China as a responsible, reliable power, a protector of the existing world order and a champion of multilateralism and globalisation.

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