Zhao Lijian
Zhao Lijian (; born 10 November 1972) is a Chinese civil servant who has been serving as deputy director of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China since January 2023. He joined the foreign service in 1996. Zhao became notable during his time serving in Pakistan for his outspoken use of Twitter. Between 2019 and 2023, he was the deputy director of the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as the 31st spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry since the position was established in 1983. He has been described as a prominent wolf warrior diplomat during his tenure. In January 2023, Zhao was removed from the office as one of the Foreign Ministry's spokespeople and was appointed deputy director of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs of the Foreign Ministry. Biography Zhao Lijian was born in the town of , in Luannan County, Tangshan, Hebei in November 1972. He studied at Luannan County No. 1 Middle School. He graduated from Changsha Railway College (merged to form Central South University) with a major in foreign language studies. He obtained a master's degree in public policy from the Korea Development Institute, where he studied between February and December 2005. Zhao joined the Department of Asian Affairs in 1996 as an attaché. He was transferred to the Chinese embassy in Pakistan as the attaché to the third secretary in 2003. He served at the Chinese embassy in the United States between 2009 and 2013. In 2013, he was recalled to the Department of Asian Affairs. From 2015 to August 2019, he served as counsellor and minister counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad. During his tenure there, he used the name "Muhammad Lijian Zhao" on his official Twitter account, but he dropped "Muhammad" in 2017 after there were reports that China banned several Islamic names in Xinjiang. Zhao became well known for his frequent use of Twitter to criticize the United States, including on topics such as race relations and the United States foreign policy in the Middle East. Paired with his press conference statements, he has established a "long history of provocative assertions." Zhao was deputy director of the Foreign Ministry Information Department of the People's Republic of China between August 2019 and January 2023. Zhao has been deputy director of Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs Department since January 2023, being demoted to there from the Information Department, a move that has been said to be part of China's rethinking of wolf warrior diplomacy. Statements, Twitter and controversies The Chinese Communist Party puts a high premium on information management, and Zhao used press conferences and Twitter to direct information and reach China's strategic goals. Although it had been banned in China in 2009, Zhao joined Twitter in 2010, becoming one of the first envoys of the Chinese government to use the social media platform. By the end of 2020, Zhao had 780,000 followers. "Racist" Washington exchange In 2019 Zhao