As a foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian was one of the most prominent official voices of the Chinese government for the past three years. He was also the unofficial poster-child for “wolf warrior diplomacy” — a sharp-tongued, combative approach that brought the rhetorical fight to China’s critics and rivals.
No more.
This week, Zhao was assigned a new job: deputy director of the ministry’s Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs. It’s a lateral move to an obscure post that takes Zhao out of the spotlight.
The Foreign Ministry did not explain the shift, but some analysts think it is the latest in a series of tactical tweaks that China has been making to ease friction with other countries and soften its image on the global stage.
[Zhao has long been a toady of Xi Jinping and an enthusiastic participant in Beijing’s propaganda. At times, Zhao was even too enthusiastic a participant for China’s diplomatic corps. The fact that Zhao’s getting buried now rather than three years ago may well be a sign that XI has concerns whether China’s aggressive and antagonistic posturing through the pandemic China unleashed may have created permanent damage to its interests. — Ed]
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