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China Briefing
This Week in AsiaOpinion
Wang Xiangwei
Wang Xiangwei

China Briefing | Coronavirus: China should rein in ‘wolf warrior’ diplomats and let its actions do the talking

  • Fiery media rhetoric may go down well with the hardliners, but it will do nothing for Beijing’s image overseas
  • Imagine the goodwill China will reap if it can develop a Covid-19 vaccine and share it with the world

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Wu Jing and Celina Jade in Wolf Warrior 2. Beijing should rethink its new style of diplomacy, named after the patriotic blockbuster movies. File photo
Wang Xiangwei
In the run-up to the two-day meeting last week of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organisation (WHO), expectations were building in the international media that China faced an unprecedented backlash.
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Beijing reportedly was resisting growing pressure for an independent investigation into the origins of the pandemic; Taiwan was lobbying hard on its latest attempt to join the body as an observer, and some expected the United States to use the forum to ratchet up attacks on China and the WHO, all of which threatened to mar the international body’s first major gathering since the outbreak of the coronavirus.

But in fact it turned out quite well for Beijing, which largely came across as the good guy, as compared to Washington which threatened to permanently cut off funding to the WHO at a time when health officials are saying it is needed more than ever to lead the fight against Covid-19.

02:47

China warns US of ‘strong response’ regarding Taiwan, saying island’s independence is 'dead end'

China warns US of ‘strong response’ regarding Taiwan, saying island’s independence is 'dead end'

Let’s hope Chinese officials will ride on the back of Beijing’s performance at the WHO to improve the country’s global image by scaling back the blame game with Washington and its aggressive “wolf warrior” diplomacy, and allow its actions to speak louder than words.

While US President Donald Trump was notably absent, Chinese President Xi Jinping projected China as a responsible world power in his speech on Monday by appealing for international cooperation, pledging US$2 billion to the WHO in the next two years, and promising to make self-developed vaccines available to all as “a global public good”.

More importantly, Xi said China would back “a comprehensive review of global response” to the coronavirus, to be led by the WHO after the pandemic was brought under control.

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