Wolf warrior diplomacy is a confrontational form of public diplomacy adopted by diplomats of the People's Republic of China in the late 2010s and early 2020s. The phrase is derived from the Chinese action film franchise Wolf Warrior (2015) and its 2017 sequel. Analysts have characterized this style of diplomacy as coercive, and in contrast both to the narrative of "China's peaceful rise" and to diplomatic practices which emphasize the use of cooperative rhetoric and the avoidance of controversy (often termed Taoguang Yanghui), financial aid (checkbook diplomacy), the provision of medical supplies such as COVID-19 masks (medical diplomacy), and panda diplomacy.
Wolf warrior diplomacy has been often combative, with its proponents vocally denouncing perceived criticism of the Chinese government, the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and associated policies on social media and in interviews, sometimes engaging in physical altercations or other forms of compellence with their opponents. Wolf warrior diplomacy has been seen as part of CCP general secretary Xi Jinping's efforts to bolster China's "discourse power" in international politics and a reflection of an ideological struggle with the Western world. Xi's foreign policy in general, perceived anti-China hostility from the West among Chinese government officials, and shifts within the Chinese diplomatic bureaucracy have been cited as factors leading to its emergence. Commentators have observed that wolf warrior diplomacy peaked in the early 2020s and declined afterwards.
History
Shift in diplomatic style When Deng Xiaoping came to power following Mao Zedong's death in the late 1970s, he prescribed a foreign policy that he summed up as tāoguāng-yǎnghuì (), and emphasized the avoidance of controversy and the use of cooperative rhetoric. This idiom—which originally referred to biding one's time without revealing one's strength—encapsulated Deng's strategy to "observe calmly, secure our position, cope with affairs calmly, hide our capacities and bide our time, be good at maintaining a low profile, and never claim leadership."
In 2009, China began to take notable actions, including increasing fishery activities, sea patrols, military presence, tourism development, and UN claims. While maintaining a diplomatic tone towards neighboring countries, China asserted its determination to protect its territorial integrity. However, remarks about the United States were much harsher, calling its claims "flatly inaccurate" and "sheer lies." This shift marked the beginning of "Chinese assertiveness," especially related to the South China Sea dispute. Around 2010, scholars began to note this shift on China's diplomatic style.
Since 2011, discussions about the South China Sea have grown, with China taking a firmer stance and increasing its activities, while other countries such as the Philippines have responded with legal actions and maritime patrols to assert their claims. US statements about this issue were dismissed as "untrue and irresponsible remarks," portraying the US as a negative foreign influence in the South China Sea.
The sentiment of Chinese official talks about the US can be divided into two periods under Chinese leaders Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping. Before 2012, sentiment improved and peaked in 2011. During the general secretaryship of Xi Jinping, negativity increased, especially after 2018, reaching its lowest point.
While assertive nationalist rhetoric in Chinese public diplomacy existed previously, wolf warrior diplomacy is perceived as a departure from former Chinese foreign policy which focused on working behind the scenes, avoiding controversy and favoring a rhetoric of international cooperation, exemplified by the maxim that China "must hide its strength" in international diplomacy. This shift in public diplomacy can be understood as a tactical change in how the Chinese government and the CCP relate to the rest of the world, and also to their domestic audiences. Due to the Chinese diaspora, China's public diplomacy has been increasingly aimed at Chinese-speaking audiences outside of the PRC.
Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy (2017) had legitimized a more active role for China on the world stage, including its engagement in open ideological struggle with the West.
From 2002 to 2020, eleven foreign ministry spokespersons conducted press conferences, with Hua Chunying giving the most responses at more than 4,000 responses followed by Qin Gang, Lu Kang, and Hong Lei at more than 2,000 responses.
Prominence The phrase zhan-lang-waijiao () entered Chinese media in the latter half of 2019, in the aftermath of a heated exchange on Twitter between Zhao Lijian and Susan Rice on 13 July 2019. In August 2019, Zhao Lijian was promoted to deputy director of China's Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to analysis of China's diplomacy during the COVID-19 pandemic, wolf warrior diplomacy became more aggressive in recent years as Chinese officials responded more strongly to international criticism.
In February 2020, Zhao Lijian became a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was described by Chinese media as an "Internet celebrity" and a "Wolf Warrior Diplomat".
According to Bloomberg News reporter Peter F. Martin, "After the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Chinese diplomats felt under attack but also proud of the way that their country has handled the crisis. The new mixture of confidence and increasing insecurity combined to create what we now call wolf warrior diplomacy."
The phrase "Wolf Warrior diplomacy" may have first been used in Western media in May 2020. In Western media since the early-2020s, the phrase "Wolf Warrior diplomacy" has been used to describe any use of confrontational rhetoric by Chinese diplomats, disinformation tactics, coercive behavior, as well as their increased willingness to openly and stridently rebuff criticism of the government and its policies, and court controversy in press conferences, interviews with the foreign press and on social media.
In May 2020, Wang Yi stated that China would "never pick a fight or bully others" but would "push back against any deliberate insult" and "refute all groundless slander." In December, Hua Chunying stated at a press conference, "[H]ow can anyone think that China has no right to speak the truth while they have every right to slander, attack, smear, and hurt China? ... Do they think that China has no choice but the silence of the lambs while they are unscrupulously lashing out at the country with trumped-up charges?"
In December 2020, at an address to a conference at Renmin University in Beijing, Foreign Minister Le Yucheng was reported, in Western media, as defending the use of "rhetorical tit-for-tat" as a way of "solving the problems of being scolded" by other countries. He criticized Western media for its use of the phrase "Wolf Warrior" to describe Chinese diplomats who deployed such aggressive rhetoric. He said that foreign countries "are coming to our doorstep, interfering in our family affairs, constantly nagging at us, insulting and discrediting us, [so] we have no choice but to firmly defend our national interests and dignity."
Decline In 2021, in response to a perceived deterioration of China's international reputation in a reaction to wolf warrior diplomacy, CCP general secretary Xi Jinping called for improvements in the country's international communication at a May 2021 CCP Politburo group study session. Several other events in 2021 were interpreted by The Diplomat as evidence "that leaders in Beijing are recalibrating China's external messaging, signaling to the wolf warriors that a gradual softening of tone is in order," including the departure of Hu Xijin, editor of the CCP-owned tabloid Global Times, an early adopter of wolf warrior rhetoric. Since the Politburo meeting, Chinese officials started toning down public statements, while social media accounts related to the foreign ministry became less confrontational.
In 2022, Le Yucheng was transferred from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he had served as executive vice minister since 2018, to a deputy directorship at the National Radio and Television Administration. Another pullback from China's official support for Wolf Warrior diplomacy occurred in January 2023, when Zhao Lijian became the deputy director of Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs Department, thus ending his tenure as an official spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Academics Lize Yang and Hai Yang describe Zhao's reassignment as signaling China's effort to decrease the wolf warrior approach.
Two undated US Joint Chiefs of Staff briefings leaked in 2023 wrote that China has been transitioning away from wolf warrior diplomacy to a "more measured approach", in part to divide the European Union (EU) from the US, though it assessed these measures have been failing, basing this on conversations with European officials in March 2023.
In September 2024, international relations scholar Shaoyu Yuan argued that China has shifted from its assertive wolf warrior diplomacy to a more accommodating diplomatic approach, primarily motivated by domestic economic challenges, including a slowing economy. This transition underscores China's need for global economic stability to maintain its growth and development.
According to a research by The Economist, more belligerent answers by the foreign ministry spokespersons increased sharply after 2019, then started declining steadily after 2022. It said that, by the beginning of 2025, the level of belligerent answers had declined to 2018 levels.
Causes
Several factors supportive of a growth in Wolf Warrior diplomacy have been noted by analysts in the years since Zhao Lijian's rise to prominence as an acknowledged "Wolf Warrior Diplomat" in 2019.
The story of China's former Ambassador to France, Wu Jianmin, having had the French Embassy's dogs set on him as a child in Nanjing, has been used as a justification for aggressive "Wolf Warrior" diplomatic language.
In some analyses, the use of Wolf Warrior rhetoric and tactics have been a Chinese response to its fear of "ideological designs" from the West, to its perception of increased "anti-China hostility" or of increased threats to national stability. Some saw a promotion of the Wolf Warrior as part of a "national rejuvenation".
Some analysts point out that a younger cadre of diplomats have now worked their way up the ranks of the Chinese diplomatic service and that this is causing a generational shift in diplomatic style, such as an increased use of social media such as Twitter. Academic Guobin Yang writes that Wolf Warrior diplomacy should be understood "in the context of an already emerging culture of cybernationalism and global populism."
Some analysts point to the importance of Wolf Warrior diplomacy in the domestic politics of China, as a way of appeasing nationalistic youth who decry the "flaccid tone" of less-aggressive Chinese diplomacy. The contradiction between Chinese ideas and socialism and Western ideas and capitalism features heavily in some domestic discussions of wolf warrior diplomacy. Some Western analysts argue that the diplomatic stance of China has increasingly pivoted toward an adversarial relationship with the West in recent decades.