The Chinese emissaries have, for long, been infamous for using un-diplomatic and patronising language, and documents used as early as the fifteenth century show how Chinese Emperors used to threaten their neighbouring countries with bellicose language. The present-day diplomats use abrasive and condescending language, with the Chinese envoys constantly talking about schooling their counterparts and admonishing other countries for hurting the “Chinese feelings”.
The Coronavirus Pandemic and the criticism of the Communist regime in China has further bolstered the abrasiveness of the Chinese diplomatic establishment, as Chinese Diplomatic Missions have become particularly hawkish, forcing their will upon others in an unruly and unparliamentary language.
In a bizarre story coming from Sri Lanka, the Chinese Embassy’s unverified twitter handle was constantly using undiplomatic language, engaging in a heated “war of words” with other Twitter users and trolls.
A Twitter user, for example, said, “The low class authoritarian Chinese government that was a curse to the Chinese people, became a curse to the world.” And this infuriated the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka which resorted to utterly unparliamentary language, while replying, “Total death in #China #pandemic is 3344 till today, much smaller than your western “high class” governments. Who are cursed?”
You are right that the "low class" Chinese government are serving 1.4billion Chinese people, even the grass root or the " lowest class" included. Total death in #China #pandemic is 3344 till today, much smaller than your western "high class" governments. Who are cursed?
— Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka (@ChinaEmbSL) April 9, 2020
Not even stinging editorials in op-ed magazines resort to such blatantly offensive and sarcastic language that China’s “un-diplomatic” diplomatic mission in Sri Lanka used on its official Twitter handle.
Not many knew about the official status of the unverified Twitter handle and the microblogging platform banned the handle of the diplomatic mission for using un-diplomatic language.
As absurd as it sounds for the twitter handle of an Embassy to get banned over the use of un-diplomatic language, Twitter quickly dismissed the ban as a “systematic mistake”. What followed was a textbook lesson in irony, as the Communist regime of China went schooling Twitter and the entire world about free speech and its virtues.
Yes, the reinstated Chinese Embassy account was actually sermonising about free speech on Twitter, a social media platform which itself is banned in China. The Chinese Embassy tweeted, “The Embassy feels regretful to this “systematic mistake”, and would like to reiterate that the #FreedomOfSpeech ” must be honored, while not be misused to spread groundless, racial or hatred speech, nor be treated with #doublestandards.”
It is such a shame that the Dragon was extolling free speech for the first time, but the Chinese citizens won’t be able to know because the Chinese embassy was singing paeans about free speech in a virtual world the Chinese citizens are not allowed to enter. Talk about “double standards”.
The Embassy feels regretful to this “systematic mistake”, and would like to reiterate that the #FreedomOfSpeech ” must be honored, while not be misused to spread groundless, racial or hatred speech, nor be treated with #doublestandards ”.
— Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka (@ChinaEmbSL) April 14, 2020
Having got reinstated, the Chinese Embassy is now feeling at ease when it comes to engaging in verbal duels with Twitter users. Thus, replying to one such user, the Embassy said, “We believe if Twitter could follow the laws and rules of China, the market might also be opened to them. Billions users on WeChat & Weibo.”
We follow the rules of Twitter, so they apologized for the mistake and reopened.
We believe if Twitter could follow the laws and rules of China, the market might also be opened to them. Billions users on WeChat & Weibo.
SL banned Twitter too when they violated domestic laws. https://t.co/7ezYVJYgzu
— Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka (@ChinaEmbSL) April 14, 2020
Exactly, the Chinese diplomats and the expansionist Communist regime want the entire world, not just the Chinese citizens, to follow the “laws and rules of China”. The same “laws and rules” which detain and even mysteriously disappear Chinese doctors and whistle blowers who “spread rumours” about the COVID-19 outbreak.
Not just Sri Lanka and Twitter, Beijing’s un-diplomatic diplomats have been trying to force their “laws and rules” across the world.
As part of its campaign to eulogise its own efforts in combating Coronavirus, the Chinese diplomatic establishment has been rebuking and deriding the handling of the crisis by Western countries. In France, for instance, an unnamed Chinese diplomat accused workers at nursing homes in France of “abandoning their posts overnight … and leaving their residents to die of hunger and disease”.
Sounds shocking and offensive? Well, the Chinese Embassy in Paris published this hitjob on its official website, leading to embitterment of France-China relations after the Chinese ambassador was summoned by the French Foreign Ministry.
The Chinese diplomats crossed the line in India as well, as the Consulate General in Kolkata literally tried to gag the Indian media for blaming China about the Wuhan virus outbreak.
Beijing wants the Indian media outlets to follow the “laws and rules of China”, and this is why the unparliamentary Chinese diplomats went to the extent of stating, “Recently, certain Indian media ignored the facts that China had officially released and continued to blame China for concealing the real situation.”
This is why China’s diplomats have grown a bit too bellicose in their demeanour and language over the recent past- they want the world to go by the facts that China has “officially” released. Probably, Beijing does not understand that all media outlets do not work like the Global Times and the People’s Daily.
This also explains why a Chinese diplomat in Australia shot off a letter to ‘The Daily Telegraph’, a popular daily in Australia, questioning their vigorous coverage of the Chinese virus. The newspaper then reigned fire on the Chinese regime for trying to bully them, and began with calling the government of China a ‘communist dictatorship’.
The Chinese diplomats are behaving exactly how a diplomat shouldn’t behave, making it difficult to understand if we are dealing with hot-headed PLA Generals or real diplomats. China wants to censor the entire world, just like its own citizens, from exposing how it has landed the humankind in trouble with its wet markets and coverups.
And as the world refuses to accept Beijing’s “official” version, Chinese diplomats are going frantic in public display.
