How Britain will counter China’s wolf-warrior diplomacy

The most significant and lasting change brought about by Covid is that it has woken the West up to the threat posed by Communist China. The fact that the initial severity of the outbreak was covered up by Chinese Communist party authorities did not surprise western governments. It was Beijing’s ‘wolf warrior diplomacy’ as the virus raged round the globe that made them grasp the true nature of President Xi’s China.

In March, the UK government was taken aback by the extreme misinformation promoted by the CCP to try to suggest that the US military was somehow to blame for the emergence of the virus. The shortages of personal protective equipment reminded western governments how reliant they had become on Chinese manufacturing and also highlighted the difference between dealing with China and dealing with companies in democratic countries: ministers hesitated to criticise the CCP for fear that the next plane loaded with PPE wouldn’t take off.