China Picks ‘Wolf Warrior’ Diplomat to Oversee Hong Kong’s Foreign Affairs

Police officers perform a new goose-stepping march, the same style used by police and troops on the Chinese mainland, at the city's police college during an open day to mark the National Security Education Day in Hong Kong on April 15, 2021. ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images

Former Chinese Ambassador to Poland Liu Guangyuan was recently appointed by Beijing to be special commissioner in Hong Kong, replacing Xie Feng, who will be the new deputy foreign minister of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Chinese state media claimed that Liu in his new role will continue to “resist external pressure and sanctions” as a top CCP official in the special administrative region (SAR)—a former British colony beset with political turmoil due to Beijing’s interference.

A position specifically established within China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the special commissioner in Hong Kong is responsible for handling foreign affairs related to Hong Kong.

According to the HKSAR special commissioner’s official website, Liu has served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1986. He served as the CCP’s deputy consul general in San Francisco from 2000 to 2002, as the Minister of the Chinese Embassy in the United States from 2007 to 2010, representative of the United Nations Environment Programme and permanent representative to the U.N. Human Settlements Programme from 2010 to 2014, Director of the Foreign Security Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2018, and the Chinese Ambassador to Poland from 2018 to 2021.

Chinese diplomats have increasingly been taking an aggressive and confrontational approach in recent years in an attempt to defend the CCP’s interests. The style has been dubbed “Wolf Warrior diplomacy,” modeled after the popular Wolf Warrior movie that eulogizes the CCP and its fighting spirit. Liu is known as one of the most aggressive “Wolf Warrior” diplomats.

During his tenure as Chinese ambassador to Poland, Liu frequently defended the CCP’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and 5G programs when facing criticism from the U.S. Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher.

For instance, in an opinion piece for Onet in March 2020, the largest news portal in Poland, Mosbacher criticized the CCP for concealing the outbreak of the pandemic and later shared his remarks on Twitter. Liu launched an attack on the United States by penning his own article for Onet, claiming that Mosbacher was “spreading a political virus.”

In July 2020, Mosbacher reposted articles by U.S. State Department officials on Twitter, saying that CCP-controlled telecom companies “cannot be trusted to tell the truth or protect the interests of others“ and ”should not be trusted with the vital security of 5G networks.”

In response, Liu immediately posted 17 tweets, fiercely berating Mosbacher and the U.S. government.

Shortly after Liu was appointed as the new special commissioner in Hong Kong, Chinese authorities stated through an official channel that Liu will “continue to resist foreign pressure and sanctions, so as to safeguard the interests of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Li Yanming, a current affairs commentator in the United States and an expert on China issues, told The Epoch Times that the CCP picked Liu because he had served as a diplomat in the United States before and had openly confronted the United States.

“The CCP is counting on Liu to implement its Hong Kong policies to destroy the city’s democratic system, force the SAR government to completely comply with the central government, and resist the U.S.-led Western countries from exerting influence on Hong Kong,” Li said.