Chinese Diplomacy’s Trumpian Shift

By resorting to an impulsive and misleading style of communication, China is moving away from the constructive way it has approached communicating in the past few years. This is an alarming development in the midst of a global pandemic.

The COVID-19 global pandemic is currently the subject of a Chinese-American diplomatic spat in which Beijing is making full use of its new, aggressive diplomatic style, breaking with its traditional approach.

The spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian, recently tweeted articles from a Canadian conspiracy website suggesting that COVID-19 originated in the United States and not in China. These messages were then relayed by Chinese ambassadors across the world and, of course, by state media. Donald Trump was quick to retaliate very personally, as we have come to expect. Now, the “Chinese virus” is all he talks about. This effectively irritated Beijing more than ever.

Since Trump invented what we now know as “Twitter diplomacy,” it is bizarre to see Chinese diplomats resorting to the same method, using social networks that are banned in their country to forcefully convey the official positions of their government. It is all the more alarming when they relay rumors and false information.

A Stabilizing Force

When Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States in November 2016, a wave of uncertainty swept around the world. While allies and adversaries of the United States puzzled over the future of global strategic stability, the People’s Republic of China portrayed itself as the predictable and stabilizing force in international relations with respect to the American troublemaker.

Since arriving in the White House, Trump has pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Paris climate agreement, the Vienna agreement on the Iranian nuclear program and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia. He has often reserved even worse treatment for his allies (from the North Atlantic as well as the Pacific) than for his adversaries, putting pressure on them to take more responsibility for their own security. Putting “America First,” he has pursued policies that are protectionist, if not unilateralist, ever since.

As for Xi Jinping, he has come across as the greatest defender of free trade, multilateralism and globalization, particularly since his still famous speech to the Davos forum in January 2017. (President Trump took office a few days later.) At the summit of the Group of 20 industrial and emerging-market nations in Buenos Aires, Xi, along with France and the United Nations, reiterated his commitment to implementing the Paris agreement. China, who was accused of taking a free ride on globalization throughout the two Obama administrations, seemed to be dressing up as a responsible international power when faced with Trump.

However, in 2019, China took an unprecedented diplomatic turn. It was a clear departure from the traditional “low profile” attitude it had maintained since Deng Xiaoping, and China is now gradually distancing itself from the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, inherited from Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. The new aggressive Chinese diplomatic position paradoxically resembles that of the much maligned Trump.

Impulsive Communication

Chinese ambassadors in Europe are carrying out this new diplomacy. The Chinese ambassador to Italy called some Italian members of parliament “irresponsible” after they met with Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong via videoconference. In Sweden, the ambassador announced on public radio that “We treat our friends with fine wine, but for our enemies we have shotguns,” after a literary prize was awarded to Gui Minhai, who is under detention in China. The Chinese ambassador in Germany threatened the German state with retaliation if it did not allow the private company Huawei to access the 5G market. A market that, we must remember, is not deregulated in China.

The use of Twitter by Chinese diplomats is a new phenomenon which Beijing highly regards and even encourages. The promotion of Lijian, the most media savvy of the diplomats, from Chinese ambassador to Pakistan to spokesman for the foreign minister confirms this. It is the new style of Chinese diplomacy, a more aggressive position which is less concerned with the facts.

So here we are. The world’s two leading economic powers are competing via tweet in the middle of a global pandemic. By using the same weapons that Trump uses, that is, an impulsive and misleading style of communication, China is distancing itself from the constructive approach it sought to display only a few years ago.

This diplomatic shift is both concerning for us Europeans in terms of our relations with the two partners, and is also an opportunity for the European Union to reaffirm that it remains a power that represents dialogue, cooperation and law in a world that lacks leadership.