Wolf Warrior diplomacy

The recent tensions with China really began with a change in direction from Trump. Initially he had praised China for its response to COVID-19 but, with an election looming and the need for someone to blame for America’s woes, he turned on China.  China’s response to Trump’s rather outlandish claims, and to anyone China thought was channelling Trump, was understandably terse.

 This has been interpreted as a change in tactics and style on the part of China. The new sharply aggressive style has been termed Wolf Warrior diplomacy.  This name comes from the title of an action movie Wolf Warrior made in China and released in 2015 which features heroes from the Chinese special operation forces. The movie has been very successful in China and was followed by Wolf Warrior II in 2017, the highest grossing movie in China to date. To outsiders the movie and the response to it seems overly nationalistic. Of course there has been an endless stream of such movies in America, but that is all ok.