![The term "wolf warrior diplomacy" stems from Chinas 2017 box office hit "Wolf Warrior 2" and implies that China is not afraid to be aggressive in defending itself.](https://image.taiwannews.com.tw/2020%2F06%2F27%2Ffe65fc50bb924a14a0d2e9379bb30a1d.jpg "The term "wolf warrior diplomacy" stems from Chinas 2017 box office hit "Wolf Warrior 2" and implies that China is not afraid to be aggressive in defending itself.")
TAIPEI (Taiwan) — Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) called Chinese Taiwan Affairs Office Spokesperson Ma Xiaoguang’s (馬曉光) statement “crude and vulgar” after he said Taiwan is “worse than a concubine.”
During a Taiwan Affairs Office press conference on Wednesday (April 13), Ma was asked to comment on Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) saying Taiwan should be considerate and not cause trouble when the U.S. focuses its attention elsewhere. Ma responded, “Your question reminds me of a Tang poem: ‘After finishing with makeup (the bride) asks her husband if (her) eyebrows look trendy.’”
The poem, written by Tang dynasty author Zhu Kejiu (朱可久), describes a newlywed woman anxious about seeing her in-laws and asking for her husband’s approval.
Ma added, “Joseph Wu admitted on his own accord by saying this, presenting thoroughly the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) image of a servant’s groveling, dependency, and begging for pity. It is worse than a concubine.”
On Thursday evening (March 14), MOFA said in a press release that Ma’s language was “not up to par with the standards of the civilized world and really not worth responding to.” CNA cited MOFA as saying that while Taiwan has been recognized by the world as a democratic success story and a reliable ally, China has sought to expand and attack everyone through its wolf warrior diplomacy.
“The international consensus is that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the perpetrator causing regional tensions and tarnishing the development of global peace. As it has antagonized the general international community, the CCP government should reflect on itself at length,” MOFA added.
Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Ma Xiaoguang. (Taiwan Affairs Office photo)
In fact, even the Chinese government deemed Ma’s “concubine” reference too undignified, as the last sentence of his statement was cut from the official transcription of the press conference. Nonetheless, the incident reflects a new level of crassness in the language used by Chinese foreign affairs departments as Taiwan’s relationship with other countries continues to warm.
Since the late 2010s, the international community has taken notice of China’s aggressive wolf warrior diplomacy, under which “diplomats” take a blunt, confrontational tone, criticizing other countries or defending their own. Nevertheless, while the world was originally shocked by the tactic, such as when former U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice rowed with Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijiang (趙立堅) in 2019, it quickly became accustomed to the rhetoric and came to see it as “all talk.”
The obnoxious “talk” has been damaging to China’s image. Yun Jiang, Australian Institute of International Affairs China Matters Fellow and former Australian policy advisor, wrote that wolf warriors only contribute to negative impressions of China and weaken its soft power.
“A Pew survey conducted from June to August 2020 found that unfavorable views of China reached historic highs in 2020 in advanced economies such as Australia, some European countries, and Japan,” Jiang wrote. “The antagonistic antics of the ‘wolf warriors’… give us a taste of China’s rising ambitions on the international stage and perhaps also reveal the increasingly contradictory goals of foreign policy.”
