If you read one China book this month, let it be China's Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf Warrior Diplomacy, by @PeterMartin_PCM.
I really, really cannot recommend it highly enough. Here's my review:
axios.com/new-book-explo…
I really, really cannot recommend it highly enough. Here's my review:
axios.com/new-book-explo…
This is a masterful retelling of the history of the People's Republic of China, through the eyes of its diplomats.
Bloomberg reporter Peter Martin paints a deeply human portrait of China's emissaries, pulling back the veil on their motivations and struggles.
Bloomberg reporter Peter Martin paints a deeply human portrait of China's emissaries, pulling back the veil on their motivations and struggles.
Peter draws on dozens of interviews and more than 100 Chinese-language memoirs, digging up wild anecdotes and occasional glimpses into the personalities and true feelings of China's diplomats as they navigated career, politics, bureaucracy and the rest of the world.
The book's title comes from a phrase that Zhou used to describe his vision of the Foreign Ministry as a "civilian army" that emulated the strict discipline and ideological dedication of the People's Liberation Army.
The Foreign Ministry suffered through periodic waves of political paranoia, including the violence of the Cultural Revolution as diplomats were sent to labor camps, family members of fallen officials died by suicide, and one top official was locked in a single room for years.
Peter, on the rise of China's wolf warrior diplomats:
"The impulse for Chinese diplomats to follow Xi's lead is rooted in fear as well as ambition. The easiest way for diplomats to work towards Xi's wishes is to assert Chinese interests forcefully on the world stage."
"The impulse for Chinese diplomats to follow Xi's lead is rooted in fear as well as ambition. The easiest way for diplomats to work towards Xi's wishes is to assert Chinese interests forcefully on the world stage."
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