Peter Martin (Bloomberg News), Yun Jiang (ANU China Story Blog)

China’s ‘wolf warrior’ diplomats have attracted attention around the world in recent years, smashing the formerly popular image of Chinese diplomats as bland, polite and conservative. Under Xi Jinping, China’s diplomatic style appears to have transformed into one that is assertive and sometimes combative. Many analysts attribute this change to the rising power of China, as well as to the influence of Xi’s ideology.

However, Peter Martin’s book reminds us that this assertive and combative style is not so new. Analysing diplomacy from before the establishment of the People’s Republic of China to now, he argues that wolf warrior diplomacy is not due entirely to the rising power of China. To understand the wolf warriors, we must understand the institutional constraints binding the diplomats.