China’s Baseball-Tossing, Tesla-Riding Envoy Signals Lower-Key Diplomatic Strategy

Sarah Zheng and Iain Marlow
·6 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- As China’s ambassador to the US, Qin Gang has walked a fine line: He’s assertively pressed Beijing’s interests with its biggest rival, while showcasing a softer side to Chinese diplomacy.

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During his year in Washington, the 56-year-old envoy has thrown out the first pitch at St. Louis Cardinals game, shared a picture of a personalized Lakers jersey and taken a ride in a Tesla with Elon Musk. The one-time Foreign Ministry spokesman has delivered some of China’s most moderate messages on hot topics, arguing Beijing would’ve tried to stop Russia from invading Ukraine if it had known and playing down the risk of a war with Taiwan.

While that sort of reassuring approach is common for diplomats the world over, it’s become rarer for Chinese envoys, who have in recent years embraced a more confrontational style, earning them the nickname “Wolf Warriors.” Unlike many of his peers, Qin hasn’t built a personal brand on social media, only joining Twitter last year.

Xi appointed Qin to the Communist Party’s Central Committee last month, giving him a rank equivalent to what Foreign Minister Wang Yi, 69, had when he took job. A one-time alternative, former vice foreign minister and frequent Russia defender Le Yucheng, was transferred out of the hierarchy in June and is no longer in the running.

Now, Qin’s emergence as the top contender to become foreign minister is bolstering speculation that Chinese leader Xi Jinping is trying to move back to a lower-key diplomatic strategy.

Qin is likely to be a “better messenger” for having been a Foreign Ministry spokesperson in the pre-Wolf Warrior era, said Jingdong Yuan, associate professor at the University of Sydney. “He may have a better sense of how to engage the world, in language and presentation, that appear less ‘Wolf Warrior’-like.”

China will likely formally fill the foreign minister’s role during national legislative meetings in March, when Xi is also expected to be appointed to a third term as president. Wang was elevated to the 25-member Politburo and is expected to guide overall foreign policy.

The personnel shifts coincide with a push by Xi to mend frayed ties with the US and its allies, holding his first in-person summit with President Joe Biden in Bali, Indonesia, last month. Wang declared US ties at a “new starting point” while Xi sought to improve ties with leaders of top US allies, including Japanese premier Fumio Kishida and Australian leader Anthony Albanese. On Tuesday, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong will visit China, the first such trip since 2008.

Beijing’s more assertive foreign policy has contributed to a collapse in public support across the developed world during Xi’s decade in power, with the share of people in the US with unfavorable views of China rising to 82% in 2021. During that period, diplomats such as current Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian have adopted a social-media driven style, criticizing foreign governments, spotlighting Western social ills and promoting conspiracy theories.

That approach helped counter former US President Donald Trump’s round-the-clock tweets and efforts to brand Covid-19 as the “China virus,” with Zhao attracting millions of followers on social media. But the tactic has appeared to become less effective as Biden emphasizes cooperation and China seeks to avoid being ostracized alongside Russia.

Kurt Campbell, the White’s House coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs, told a forum in Washington earlier this month that China’s pursuit of more stable ties with the US was an acknowledgment that its actions had “backfired.” Rahm Emanuel, Biden’s ambassador to Japan, has similarly accused China of trying to “air brush out” memories of its diplomatic missteps.

“President Xi took note of the damage that the Wolf Warrior and economic coercion has done to China,” Emanuel told reporters in Tokyo last month.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington didn’t respond to a request for an interview with Qin. The Foreign Ministry in Beijing dismissed Campbell and Emanuel’s comments as “completely inconsistent with reality” in a statement Monday and pledged to continue fighting “against actions that violate Chinese sovereignty, security and interests.”

“China has continued to firmly follow an independent and autonomous foreign policy of peace, firmly safeguarding world peace, promoting a foreign policy with a mission of collective development and forming friendly and cooperative relations with various countries,” the ministry said.

A former US official who worked with Qin described him as someone with authority in the party apparatus. While Qin can use tough language to defend China’s interests, he’s pragmatic and less offensive than Zhao, said the official, who asked not to be named while discussing confidential communications.

“Qin Gang is not at all gentle, but neither is he a Wolf Warrior — the ‘wolf’ nature he’s displayed is what is required of his position or job,” said Chih-wei Yu, associate professor at Central Police University in Taiwan. “Under the party’s current political climate, anyone who takes the foreign policy job would need to play this type of role.”

Until last year, Qin was relatively unknown outside diplomatic circles or the Beijing press corps.

‘I’m Not a Freelance Journalist’

The Tianjin-native studied at University of International Relations in Beijing, a school with close ties to both the Foreign Ministry and China’s primary spy agency. After a stint at United Press International, where he cut press clippings for foreign correspondents, he worked his way up through the Foreign Ministry with roles in Beijing and London.

When asked during a group interview with Washingonton-based journalists in August whether he felt empowered as a Chinese diplomat, Qin said he was trying to act as a “listening post” for Beijing. “I’m a Chinese ambassador — I’m not a freelance journalist,” he said. “So I have to represent my government’s position.”

When serving as Foreign Ministry spokesman from 2005 to 2010, he employed colorful language to counter criticism of Beijing, including describing Western media coverage of Tibet as a “textbook of bad examples.” Xi and Qin have worked closely in the past, with Qin overseeing the Chinese president’s 2015 state visit to the US during his time as diplomatic protocol chief.

That sense of engagement has been on display in the US, where Qin has mainly focused on easing ties, including by rubbing shoulders with governors and taking interviews. In the group interview in August, Qin said people were “over-nervous about” about a conflict over Taiwan.

Still, even some of Qin’s scripted remarks have shocked an American audience, such as when he invoked an Abraham Lincoln speech to justify China’s crackdown on its ethnic Muslim minority in Xinjiang and described Washington’s concerns about the threat from Beijing as “crazy.”

“Qin’s background as the spokesperson illustrates his specialty in public relations,” said Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson Center in Washington. “That was the primary goal he was serving here in D.C. — to improve relations with American people, not to get in a battle with Washington. But that is not a good indicator of his position if he gets the promotion as it will be a different role.”

--With assistance from Colum Murphy, Kari Lindberg and Philip Glamann.

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