My Take | China’s wolf warriors? It’s more like undiplomatic US wolverines
- While Beijing has mostly muzzled its rude envoys, its counterparts in Washington appear to be just getting started with their arrogant antics
Where have all the wolf warriors gone? There has been a rapid and punctuated evolution, and the usual Chinese species have mutated into American ones.
I ask because Foreign Affairs just ran an article titled, “Have China’s wolf warriors gone extinct?” The author defines a wolf warrior as someone who is a high-profile ambassador or foreign ministry spokesperson with a tendency to make “acerbic, sarcastic or negative” public statements. Instead of being tactful and circumspect, they prefer verbal confrontation.
It happened to some Chinese diplomats, so the author argues, some time after 2019. But they have now largely disappeared just as they quickly appeared on the international scene.
If those are the defining characteristics, I would argue that the species of diplomats haven’t gone away, rather they have turned American. There is a difference, though. Chinese wolf warriors were almost always rebutting or reacting to criticism from a foreign source or concerted negative claims from multiple sources, usually Western governments, led by Washington. The US version is different. They feel free to round on foreign governments and leaders at the drop of a hat, often without provocation or a previous unkind statement from a foreign source.
It’s this arrogance that typifies American wolf warriors. And in that sense, they have always been there, part of the diplomatic flora and fauna that people take for granted, because America has been so high and mighty.
Take, for example, Rahm Emanuel, US ambassador to Japan and former president Barack Obama’s chief of staff, whose rudeness and explosive temper are legendary. As mayor of Chicago, he was described by one US publication as “the Mariah Carey of swearing”. Since taking up his post in 2022, he has jumped at every opportunity to round on China. You might think he was working for the Japanese government – except, of course, the Japanese are never rude.
Last month, taking a cue from US Treasury chief Janet Yellen, he denounced Beijing for exporting its domestic economic problems to the rest of the world, and declared the US would never tolerate China dumping its cheap goods Well, Emmanuel, you say Chinese overproduction, I say American protectionism.
