Wolf Warrior Diplomacy and China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs: From Policy to Podium by Yaoyao Dai and Lu Wei Rose Luqiu, offers valuable insights into China’s foreign policy under President Xi Jinping, particularly the phenomenon known as “wolf warrior” diplomacy. It joins a growing list of books such as Peter Martin’s China’s Civilian Army (Oxford University Press, 2021) and this reviewer’s China’s Rising Foreign Ministry (Stanford University Press, 2024), in examining China’s foreign ministry and its diplomats. The book frames “wolf warrior diplomacy” as a shift under Xi Jinping even though it acknowledges that there are some precedents in previous leadership. This new aggressive style is characterized by hostile language and rhetoric and became particularly prominent during Xi’s term and the COVID-19 pandemic, with figures like Zhao Lijian and Hua Chunying embodying this approach through their pugnacious social media presence and the foreign ministry’s daily press conferences.
The central puzzles the book seeks to address include the official nature of wolf warrior diplomacy, its relationship to Xi Jinping’s foreign policy, its motivations and its international impact. Methodologically, the authors combine qualitative interviews, case studies and quantitative big-data analyses of transcripts from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) press conferences over two decades. They also incorporate participant observations, drawing on a co-author’s two-decade long journalistic experiences covering Chinese foreign policy. A core argument is that in the Xi Jinping era, China has adopted a more confident and proactive foreign policy, while contending that the MFA and its diplomats strictly adhere to Xi’s instructions on foreign affairs. This evolution towards a more assertive style, the authors point out, reflects Xi’s demand for greater “fighting spirit” in defending China’s core interests, in shaping international discourse and in following “Xi Jinping thought on diplomacy.” Consequentially, quantitative analysis of 20 years of MFA press conference transcripts reveals a sharp and significant increase in hostile diplomatic language during Xi’s presidency, particularly from 2018 to 2020. They assert that “hostile” diplomatic responses by MFA spokespersons almost doubled once Xi assumed power, and they suggest that this hostility is most pronounced when discussing topics related to China’s core interests especially when it comes to matters of sovereignty such as Hong Kong, maritime disputes, Taiwan issues and so forth. Consistently, the United States and its allies (Canada, Japan, UK, Australia) have been frequent targets of hostile rhetoric, again with a notable increase during Xi’s tenure. Importantly, this “wolf warrior” approach also serves a domestic purpose: fostering nationalism, strengthening public support for the CCP and consolidating Xi’s power. Internationally, the book argues that while Western media often predict “failure” due to the alleged damage to China’s image, this brand of muscular diplomacy may succeed in appealing to developing countries’ dissatisfaction with Western dominance. Thus, their analysis of news coverage in Latin American and Caribbean countries shows that these outlets were significantly less likely to use “wolf warrior” terms and often presented a more balanced view of China and Sino-US competition. The authors conclude that talking tough does not necessarily translate into tough action and that vague threats can be a strategic tool, satisfying nationalistic audiences at home while giving leaders flexibility in foreign policy.
While the book provides a comprehensive analysis of wolf warrior diplomacy – particularly through its spokesperson system (which is one of the book’s most valuable contributions) – the narrow emphasis on its top-down nature, primarily driven by Xi Jinping’s directives, could be perceived as completely stripping away the agency of diplomats and the MFA. Indeed, the authors acknowledge that spokespersons have “limited autonomy” (p. 56) and that their answers are “vetted and signed” (p. 58) by other agencies such as the Ministry of Public Security. Yet at the same time, they mention that the new generation of spokespersons “have been given more freedom than their predecessors to use personalized language and express emotion” (p. 71). Moreover, as powerful as Xi is, he is not omnipotent nor omnipresent and has to delegate. In that way, Dai and Lu may have understated the influence of rank-and-file bureaucrats in shaping agendas, foot-dragging, implementing policy and controlling the flow of information upwards and downwards. The book could also be strengthened by a more thorough examination of how international perceptions are measured and interpreted. The book concludes that wolf warrior diplomacy has not significantly damaged China’s image in the Global South and this assertion rests primarily on media coverage analysis. Yet, this does not capture other important indicators, such as public opinion, elite sentiments, or the erosion of political trust among others. While the authors’ analysis of Latin American media is insightful, one wonders how generalizable its findings are to the broader Global South (which itself is a contested term).
Finally, it is worth asking: how widespread and significant is “wolf warrior diplomacy” in China today? Indeed, there is a discernible scale down in terms of wolf-warriorism and assertive diplomacy. Zhao Lijian, the archetypal wolf warrior, made a lateral move to assume the position of deputy director of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs at the MFA. He was clearly not “rewarded” for his assertive diplomacy. At the same time, China’s diplomacy and diplomats have sought to normalize and stabilize relations, to varying degrees (with the exception of the US), with countries that were previously its most hostile targets. This change now suggests that Beijing may be reassessing its diplomatic approach, favouring a more pragmatic and less confrontational practice to manage its international relationships.
