During his second tenure at the Embassy of China in Pakistan from 2015 to 2019, Zhao 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." 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, further reaching 1.9 million by 2023. Since his reassignment to the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs in January 2023, Zhao has posted much less frequently on Twitter.
"Racist" Washington exchange In 2019 Zhao tweeted, "If you're in Washington, D.C., you know the white never go to the
SW area, because it's an area for the black & Latin. There's a saying '
black in & white out'", to which
Susan Rice, National Security Adviser to Barack Obama, responded: "You are a
racist disgrace. And shockingly ignorant too." Zhao returned the insults, calling Rice "a disgrace" and "shockingly ignorant" in a tweet as well as calling her accusation of racism "disgraceful and disgusting." Although Zhao stood by the tweets, he deleted them. The dispute raised his profile in Beijing. From here Zhao turned to Twitter. On 9 March he condemned
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for using the term "Wuhan virus". Zhao retweeted Americans who were accusing
Republicans of racism and xenophobia. On 12 March Zhao, without asking for permission from his superiors, appeared to promote a
conspiracy theory that the United States military could have brought the novel coronavirus to China, tweeting first in English and separately in Chinese:When did
patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation! The allegation was apparently linked to the United States' participation at the
2019 Military World Games held in
Wuhan in October, During an interview on
Axios on HBO, Cui distanced himself from Zhao's comments and said speculating about the origin of the virus was "harmful". In July 2021, Zhao commented that the plan on
WHO's 2nd phase study was "at odds with the position of China" and other countries, adding, "Why can't origins study be conducted in the U.S. just as in China?" Reportedly, Zhao's actions and conducts created divisions within the Foreign Ministry, with many supporting it while others opposing it. On August 11, 2021, Zhao Lijian posted a tweet supporting the Chinese conspiracy theory that
SARS-CoV-2 virus was developed by the United States military at
Fort Detrick.
Treatment of Uyghur people Following the leak of the
China Cables via
The New York Times the Chinese government has come under Western Media's and government's criticism for its treatment of
Uyghurs in the
Xinjiang internment camps (since 2017) as methods of confronting
Islamist terrorism in Xinjiang led by
Turkistan Islamic Party. Zhao has used media statements and Twitter to defend Beijing's treatment of the minority group.
Associated Press claimed that authorities in China were using forced birth control amongst Uyghur people, whilst encouraging larger families of
Han Chinese. Zhao dismissed the findings of AP as "baseless" and showed "ulterior motives." He turned attention back on the media, accusing outlets of "cooking up false information on Xinjiang-related issues". In January 2021, Zhao responded to questions about a Uyghur genocide during a press briefing by stating, "China has no genocide; China has no genocide; China has no genocide, period."
Five Eyes On 19 November 2020, the
Five Eyes intelligence-sharing group said China's imposition of new rules to disqualify
elected legislators in Hong Kong appeared to be part of a campaign to silence critics and called on Beijing to reverse course. Responding to this, Zhao said that "No matter if they have five eyes or 10 eyes, if they dare to harm China's sovereignty, security and development interests, they should beware of their eyes being poked and blinded".
Brereton Report On 30 November 2020, Zhao posted on his personal Twitter account "Shocked by murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers. We strongly condemn such acts, &call
[sic] for holding them accountable", accompanied with an image of an Australian soldier who appears to hold a bloodied knife against the throat of an
Afghan child. The image, originally created by the Chinese internet
political cartoonist
Wuheqilin (乌合麒麟), is believed to be a reference to the
Brereton Report, which had been released earlier by the Australian government that month, and which details
war crimes committed by the
Australian Defence Force during the
War in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016, including the throat-slitting of two 14-year-old Afghan boys, and its subsequent cover-up by the Australian military. Later that day, the Australian Prime Minister
Scott Morrison called a press conference, calling the image "offensive" and "truly repugnant", demanding a formal apology from the Chinese government and requesting Twitter to remove the tweet. China rejected the demands for an apology on the following day, while Twitter also refused Morrison's request to remove Zhao Lijian's tweet. The artist behind the illustration said it was created "as a metaphor". Eventually, Morrison called for stopping further amplification of the incident, and to seek conciliation. The incident had the effect of unifying Australian politicians in condemning China across party lines, while also drawing attention to the Brereton Report. The New Zealand and French governments voiced support for the Australian government and criticised Zhao's Twitter post, while the Russian government stated that "the circumstances make us truly doubt the genuine capacity of Australian authorities to actually hold accountable all the servicemen who are guilty of such crimes". The Chinese embassy in Paris criticized the French government's position as hypocrisy, and argued that Chinese artists have the right to caricature, referencing the French government's defense of the
Charlie Hebdo caricatures. A spokesperson for the US State Department likewise accused the Chinese foreign ministry of hypocrisy for using Twitter at all when it is
blocked in China. The Taiwanese government expressed concern about the Chinese foreign ministry's use of a manipulated image in an official tweet. A week after the tweet an Israeli cybersecurity firm concluded that they had found "evidence of a largely orchestrated disinformation campaign" aimed at spreading the tweet and China's viewpoint. The firm concluded that of the Twitter accounts which had augmented proliferation of the image, "half were likely fake."
Echoing Russian disinformation about Ukraine In March 2022, amidst the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Zhao Lijian said during a press conference that "the US' biological laboratories in Ukraine have aroused great concern". He echoed Russian media reports saying that Russia has found out that the US was using such facilities for "bio-military plans". Britain's
Defense Ministry said: "These narratives are long standing but are currently likely being amplified as part of a retrospective justification for Russia's invasion of Ukraine".
Bloomberg News called it a "conspiracy theory". Since the
dissolution of the Soviet Union, the
U.S. Department of Defense has worked with Ukraine and other former
satellites of the USSR to secure and take apart remnant weapons of mass destruction under the
Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program, which involved delivery system dismantlement and tasks pertaining to chemical and biological weapons. Zhao said that "As the culprit and leading instigator of the Ukraine crisis, the US has led
NATO to engage in five rounds of
eastward expansion" since 1999, and the near doubling of NATO membership pushed "Russia to the wall step by step."
Taiwan In July 2022, Zhao warned that
Nancy Pelosi should not travel to
Taiwan, and threatened the Chinese government would be "seriously prepared" for her travel. When asked about what that meant, Zhao said that "If the U.S. side is bent on going its own way, China will take strong measures to resolutely respond and counteract" and that "The United States should be held responsible for any serious consequences." Zhao stated that "We would like to tell the United States once again that China is standing by, the
Chinese People's Liberation Army will never sit idly by, and China will take resolute responses and strong countermeasures to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity."
2022 COVID-19 protests In November 2022, after being asked about
COVID-19 protests in China that were linked to the
2022 Ürümqi fire, Zhao said "On social media, there are forces with ulterior motives that relate this fire with the local response to COVID-19." == Personal life ==