Published on : 05/13/2020 – 15:27
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Criticized for having lost precious time before informing about the danger of the new coronavirus, Beijing responds. Chinese ambassadors are quick to publish false information and circulate conspiracy theories. A new generation of diplomats are coming out of the woods to defend China at all costs, like “warlike wolves”.
Wolf warrior, this action movie galvanized millions of Chinese people. Invincible hero Leng Feng, sniper of the Chinese army and hothead, fights against bad Western mercenaries to save his compatriots from the abyss. One of the 100 biggest blockbusters in the history of world cinema, this blockbuster glorifies a powerful and protective China.
It’s this proud and invincible China that President Xi Jinping has consistently promoted on the international stage. Since the onset of the coronavirus epidemic in the Chinese city of Wuhan, this foreign policy has gained further momentum.
Diplomats, would they be the new “ Peking warrior wolves “, Like Leng Feng, this famous Chinese Rambo? One thing is certain: when he finds himself on the dock for lying about the magnitude of the coronavirus epidemic, Beijing pulls out its claws. The aggressiveness of the Chinese envoys took many capitals by surprise, from Caracas to Canberra via Paris, accustomed to a more subdued and conciliatory tone from China.
The most famous of his bellicose diplomats is Zhao Lijian. On 12 March, when the pandemic brought the global economy to its knees and China was singled out for the lack of transparency in its crisis management, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs fired. In a tweet, he supports the conspiracy theory that the virus may have been imported by the US military.
Zhao Lijian, 47, is no stranger. With more than 600,000 subscribers on his Twitter account, this diplomat is now a real star on Chinese social networks. ” These diplomats awaken a feeling of national pride “, Analyzes Barthélémy Courmont, researcher at the Catholic University of Lille and director of research at IRIS,” their anti-westernism serves to unite the population around the idea that China has regained its rank on the international scene “
“We are only at the start of a communication war”
” We are only at the start of a communications war that has been raging for several months already “Analyzes the sinologist Alice Ekman, author of the book Bright red – the Chinese Communist ideal (Observatory editions, 2020) and Asia manager at the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), ” Chinese President Xi Jinping has engaged in diplomacy on what I call the path of systematic response “
” Hide your strength and wait for your time “, This doctrine of ex-leader Deng Xiaoping and his” low profile “diplomacy are no longer popular.
The latest victim of this Chinese balance: Australia. When Canberra calls for an international investigation to determine the origin of the virus, Ambassador Cheng Jingye immediately brandishes the threat of a boycott. ” It’s up to the people to decide “Plague the emissary in an interview published by the newspaper Australian Financial Review, “ maybe people will think ‘why should we drink australian wine or eat australian beef? ”
“Put on your masks and close it”
Venezuela, yet a traditional ally of China, received a volley of green wood for having mentioned the “Chinese virus”. ” Put on your masks and close it Retorted Chinese diplomats. Indians who dared to claim compensation from Beijing for the losses the country has suffered as a result of the pandemic have also paid the price for the belligerent Chinese diplomats who deemed their claim ” ridiculous and obviously stupid ”
France ended up summoning Ambassador Lu Shaye. An article published on April 12 on the embassy’s Twitter account accused nursing staff of having left ” die their residents of hunger and disease ” ” It was to mock and criticize in a very brutal way the French responses to the coronavirus crisis, with a somewhat lesson-giving side “Wonders Barthélémy Courmont,” before Xi Jinping’s arrival, such practices did not exist ” For the researcher, the warrior discourse of China is not without risk: ” We want to say to our Chinese friends ‘be careful, you are walking on very thin ice and it can backfire. “
Defending China at all costs, this order comes from above, understands Tong Zhao, associate researcher at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for International Policy in Beijing: ” In a speech to the nation, Xi Jinping promoted the fighting spirit, “recalls Tong Zhao,” the ambassadors are therefore under pressure to please their superiors and to prove their loyalty to the party.. “
“The time of submissive China is over”
” The time of submissive China is over “Welcomed the nationalist newspaper Global Times in an editorial on April 16. But to bet on the map of China superpower, is it really the right tactic? “ This only exacerbates tensions and undermines China’s ambition to be respected by the international community and to ensure its rise to power “Said Tong Zhao.
The researcher supports this by a recent study by the Chinese Institute for Contemporary International Relations, according to which the pandemic is fueling hostility towards Beijing abroad, hostility which is likely to reach a level soon. unprecedented since the bloody repression of the pro-democracy movement in 1989.
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