Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian shared a "What people think I do" meme on Twitter featuring various scenes of destruction from U.S. wars in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Pakistan, the former Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan. An affiliated caption claims that the scene is what each country thinks the U.S. does. Nevertheless, in the slot for "What I actually do," an image of the terrorist attacks on the twin towers is shown, claiming that the U.S. itself carried out the 9/11 attacks.
"Everyone needs a clear understanding of himself. So does a nation," Zhao captioned the image.
The Chinese Embassy did not respond to requests for comment about the Chinese position toward possible U.S. government involvement in the 9/11 attacks.
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Zhao is one of the leading supporters of what is known as "wolf warrior diplomacy," citing a "jingoistic Chinese film franchise," according to the Brookings Institution. This style of diplomacy features fierce and controversial rhetoric from Chinese diplomats, frequently using conspiracy theories to place blame on and troll Western governments.
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These diplomats make especially good use of Twitter, Zhao's main outlet. The Brookings Institution recorded this sudden change as starting in 2020. Previously, China's use of the social media platform was limited to a few isolated embassies. Approaching the end of 2020, however, the Chinese presence on Twitter had quadrupled, with 170 different Chinese diplomats frequently bickering with Western governments, particularly regarding COVID-19, foreign policy, and race relations.
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Zhao's Twitter feed is filled with accusations of U.S. war crimes and abuses, conspiracy theories revolving around Western governments and allies, support for Russia, frequent criticism of Japan, and denunciations of Taiwanese sovereignty. The top diplomat has gotten into several previous high-profile squabbles with U.S. officials, such as an incident in 2019 in which former national security adviser Susan Rice called him a "racist disgrace" in response to tweets talking about race relations in Washington, D.C., according to CNN.
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Despite Chinese diplomats' proficient use of Twitter, the social media outlet is banned in China.
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In seeking increasingly powerful strategies to shape how China is deemed online, Beijing has borrowed elements of Russia’s playbook. China’s “wolf warrior” diplomats—a term that comes from a jingoistic Chinese film franchise and refers to a new method among the Chinese diplomatic corps to more aggressively defend their home country online—promote conflicting conspiracy theories about the origins of the novel coronavirus that are designed to distill chaos and deflect blame. It is using these so-called warriors, together with its sprawling state media apparatus and, at times, secret trolling campaigns, to boost false theories on social media and in the news. And it is doing all this by leaning on the propaganda outlets run by Moscow, Caracas, and to a lesser extent, Tehran, and the network of contrarian agitators they leverage to promote anti-Western content.
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