Chairman Rabbit (兔主席, a.k.a. Ren Yi, grandson of Ren Zhongy…

He thinks Western democracy is flawed, perhaps even falling apart. The Economist had a chat with him a while back when he bravely defended Fang Fang (not)./2

As @niubi and @zichenwanghere have pointed out, Rabbit been taking some flak from his readers on his views on the China-Australia bust up, so methoughts it would be worth taking a look at what the wolf bunnies are saying./3

I’ll quickly lay-out Rabbit’s views & then review the most-popular comments. Here’s the post: https://t.co/3gQrtNrVVR. Rabbit looks ahead to President Biden prioritizing repairing US relations with the US allies. He thinks Biden does not want conflict with Beijing.../4

...but (wisely) points out that being nice to Beijing would be hemlock to the Democrats’ future electoral chances, given the rabid “populist right-wing”. (Not because of anything Beijing has done.) So don’t expect US-China relations to improve much at all./5

But bad diplomacy could make the situation worse. “Chairman Mao has a saying, "Politics is to get more of your own people and less of your enemy's people (毛主席有句话，“政治就是把自己的人搞得多多的，把敌人的人搞得少少的)”. China and the US are competing.../6

...to be “class president” (of the world) so both need to be actively nurturing allies. Which brings us to the economic embargoes, Zhao Lijian’s “tweet”, and all the MOFA “poking” (戳) of Australia. Yes, “Australia's response was really clumsy,.../7

...the level of politicians is too low; it’s just ugly”, Rabbit says, but Beijing is inflicting harm on itself, he argues. China should keep a lower profile, trade some time for space, not further limit Biden’s room for maneuver. /8

“Those who applaud China for "poking" Australia are actually global anti-China forces, they’re just waiting to see China punched back! (为中国“戳”澳洲而喝彩的其实是全球反华势力，等着看中国被反制).” /9

“The external environment that China faces now is very dangerous. Our international friends are a lot fewer than we thought. If we don’t manage our external relations well, then our country’s future will be affected. We need to be very deliberate & prudent..../10

...As far as this Sino-Australian dispute goes, this writer thinks it’s time for China to cool it. Look for a way to step down and take it. Don't be a stickler for saving face. Don't lower ourselves to their level. Don't go deeper & deeper into trouble. We need to consider.../11

...the bigger picture, think long & hard, & avoid being forced into a corner. (当下中国面临的外部环境十分险恶，我们的国际朋友比我们想象的要少很多。对外关系处理不好就会影响我们的国运。外交要百般斟酌，要非常审慎。对中澳这次争执，笔者以为，现在中国应该降降温了。找个台阶就下了.../12

... 不要拘泥一点面子。不要与他们一般见识。不要越陷越深。要顾全大局，从长计议，避免更大的被动.)” OK, so that’s Chairman Rabbit’s position. 13

So, what do the Chairman’s bunnies think of that? Not much. Let me paraphrase…The top-liked comment (1118 thumbs up today): “…I don’t agree we should be low-key. Now that the enemy is forcing us out, we have no choice but to fight….Australia is a thankless wretch…” /14

Second top-liked (951): “Ever been in a gang fight?... If you don't catch one of them and beat him to death, you’ll probably be killed by the group. Western countries believe that human beings are inherently evil, so they believe that people are born sinful... /15

... We believe that human nature is good, but goodness is something that everyone wants to step on.” /16

Third (856): “U.S. allies… can't be brought along by your wishful thinking. Sometimes, they need a good beating before they’ll come over to your side…We can also develop our own core allies, with an Asia-Africa-Latin America base. A good example is Rwanda”. /17

Fourth (769): “If we are to decide to lower the temperature, then it’s up to that backwater Australia to recognize their error first....China needs to execute one as a warning to the hundred. If not, then all those puppies and kittens will think they can come and bite us…” /18

Fifth (732): “We can give them some face, but not the substance of the issue. Australia is not a trustworthy economic ally. Besides, the barbarians only fear might and our diplomacy now is also testing their bottom line…” /19

Sixth (660): “This is an excellent eg of a situation where we are outflanking them, our enemy has exposed a weak underbelly…. it’s precisely because Biden is coming that we have to struggle [against oz]...an arrogant & self-indulgent person, unable to prove his innocence.” /20

Seventh (623): “It's better to follow up with more attacks: 1. Cultivate the ability of our external propaganda to counterattack 2. Kill the chicken as an eg to others 3. Further unmask foreign media 4. Unite genuine human rights people abroad etc.” /21

Eight (601): “It's interesting, but a lot of times when you want to calm things down…does the other person want to reciprocate? Australia, this kind of hothead, will just come at your again if you give them this kind of response…” /22

Ninth (578): “I don't really agree with the Chairman this time. All the countries siding with Australia are just the Eight countries that colonized the world. Other countries [e.g. in Asia] did not support Australia, & even India did not jump aboard…./23

...If China doesn't even dare poke Australia, how can it have the courage to fight the US? other countries are watching to see how much strength & confidence China has...The US is alone in its free navigation in SCS, none of our neighbors have joined, which explains a lot.” /24

Me again. You get the message. The fans are not buying calm & caution. This kind of anger is hard to put back in the bottle. Remember, Ren’s audience is the educated/professional class. Maybe the reason Zhao Lijian & the rest of them engage in Wolf Warrior “diplomacy”.../25

...is that they have a large wolfpack to lead. I wonder if the seniors think they have their hands tightly on the leash of their wolves… //26

Chairman Rabbit (兔主席, a.k.a. Ren Yi, grandson of Ren Zhongyi, a CCP leader), writes a blog popular among youngish Chinese professionals. He’s a robust, Harvard-educated defender of CCP-led China and thinks a hypocritical West is trying to suppress China’s legitimate rise./1

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