China’s ambassador to Kenya, Wu Peng, will reportedly make a quiet exit tomorrow when he boards a flight back to Beijing where he’ll apparently take on a new assignment.
Wu is the second high-profile Chinese envoy in Africa to be recalled in recent months following the departure of Lin Songtian, China’s outspoken ambassador to South Africa who left in March.
Wu, like Lin, represented a new generation of Chinese diplomats in Africa that was far less guarded than their predecessors and peers. Although Wu is not a member of the famed Wolf Warrior pack of diplomats that trolls the U.S. and other Chinese critics on social media, he doesn’t even have his own Twitter account, he was nonetheless much more open to engaging international journalists and local activists that most other Chinese ambassadors tend to avoid.
Last summer, for example, after a Kenyan environmental tribunal rejected the government’s plan to build a controversial mostly-Chinese-financed coal power plant on Lamu Island, Wu surprised everyone by inviting the environmental activists who filed the court case to come to the embassy after the verdict.
Given China’s longstanding reluctance to engage foreign NGOs, especially those who are openly critical of Beijing’s activities, Wu’s public embrace of the group deCOALonize was notable.
Similarly, last fall, when BBC correspondent Dickens Olewe interviewed Wu, the soon-to-be-former ambassador shed many of the usual formalities that are required of journalists who interview Chinese officials. Dickens didn’t have to submit his questions in advance, as is routine, and was told no questions were off-limits.
While none of this may sound that remarkable for a U.S. or European official who’s more accustomed to unscripted interactions with civil society stakeholders, it’s still somewhat of an anomaly in China’s conservative diplomatic culture.
Now with both Wu and Lin gone, the current roster of Chinese ambassadors in Africa largely lacks their flair and willingness to engage so casually with outsiders. Those two were effective spokespeople for the Chinese who captured a lot of positive media attention and there’s no doubt that their departure will be a significant setback for China’s public diplomacy efforts in Africa just when it needs it most.
