Coronavirus: China’s new army of tough-talking diplomats

Once upon a time Chinese statecraft was discreet and enigmatic. Henry Kissinger, the former US secretary of state, wrote in his seminal study Diplomacy that "Beijing's diplomacy was so subtle and indirect that it largely went over our heads in Washington".

Governments in the West employed sinologists to interpret the opaque signals emanating from China's politburo. Under its former leader, Deng Xiaoping, the country's declared strategy was to "hide its ability and bide its time". Well, not any more.

China has dispatched an increasingly vocal cadre of diplomats out into the world of social media to take on all comers with, at times, an eye-blinking frankness. Their aim is to defend China's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and challenge those who question Beijing's version of events.So they launch salvos of persistent tweets and posts from their embassies around the world. And they hold little back, deploying sarcasm and aggression in equal measure.

Such is the novelty of their techniques that they have been dubbed "wolf warrior" diplomats after the eponymous action films.Wolf Warrior and Wolf Warrior 2 are hugely popular movies in which elite Chinese special forces take on American-led mercenaries and other ne'er-do-wells. They are violent and extremely nationalistic in tone.

One critic dubbed them "Rambo with Chinese characteristics". A promotional poster showed a picture of the central character raising his middle finger with the slogan: "Anyone who offends China, no matter how remote, must be exterminated."