beijing
\nChinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, who gained prominence as one of China\u2019s most outspoken \u201cwolf warrior\u201d diplomats, has been transferred to its department that manages land and sea borders, according to the ministry\u2019s website.
\nZhao, 50, is now deputy head of the ministry\u2019s Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs, the website showed on Monday (Jan 9).
\nZhao became a ministry spokesperson in 2020 after stints in China\u2019s embassy in Pakistan, where he built a large following on Twitter as well as on Chinese social media for his frequent and often combative posts, many targeted at the United States.
\nHis hawkish style made him the most prominent practitioner of what widely became known as \u201cwolf warrior\u201d diplomacy \u2013 named after a popular Chinese movie franchise \u2013 which marked a departure from the restraint that had long characterised Beijing\u2019s engagement with the world.
\nIn a controversial Twitter post in March 2020, Zhao wrote that the US military might have brought the coronavirus to the Chinese city of Wuhan.
\nZhao, who often hosted the ministry\u2019s daily media briefing, has 1.9 million Twitter followers.
\nZhao and the ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his change in role.
\nLate last month, China promoted Qin Gang, its ambassador to Washington and a trusted aide of President Xi Jinping, to be its new foreign minister, as Beijing and Washington seek to stabilise rocky relations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
beijing Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, who gained prominence as one of China\u2019s most outspoken \u201cwolf warrior\u201d diplomats, has been transferred to its department that manages land and sea borders, according to the ministry\u2019s website. Zhao, 50, is now deputy head of the ministry\u2019s Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs, the website showed on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-306474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n