CHINA WOLF BAIT

EARLIER THIS YEAR, THE CHINESE embassy in the United States made an appalling claim. “Studies show that in the process of eradicating extremism, the minds of Uyghur women in Xinjiang were emancipated and gender equality and reproductive health were promoted, making them no longer baby-making machines. They are more confident and independent,” read a post on the embassy’s Twitter feed.

It is hard to think of a more brazen defence of the forced sterilisation and re-education that form part of what a growing number of governments and international organisations now describe as genocide against Xinjiang’s Uyghurs. The post was an extreme example of the more forceful, combative brand of “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy that increasingly defines how China presents itself to the rest of the world — as well as just how unsubtle and unpersuasive such an approach can be.

Twitter eventually deleted the post, and, at