China Breaks Diplomatic Protocol with Belt and Road Propaganda

China's Foreign Ministry in a major gaffe Tuesday used the accreditation of several new ambassadors as an occasion for propaganda about its Belt and Road development initiative.

The ministry in a statement claimed all seven ambassadors, who included the new Korean envoy as well as the representative of faraway Colombia, expressed "their countries' hope to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative and expand mutually beneficial cooperation."

Apart from being a flagrant breach of diplomatic protocol, the gaffe also stands to embarrass U.S. allies like Korea because the initiative is in conflict with U.S.' Indo-Pacific Strategy and it comes just as a trade war between Beijing and Washington is heating up.

Seoul was quick to deny that Jang Ha-sung said anything of the sort.

The other envoys were from Chad, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, none of which fall strikingly within the remit of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Yet the ministry claimed that they all "sincerely congratulated China's successful hosting of the 2nd Belt and Road Initiative Summit," as if that would be uppermost in their minds.

The Korean Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said the statement was based on all conversations with the ambassadors, not particularly with Jang. "The conversation that took place between Jang and Xi was brief and focused on the need for close cooperation in order to further develop bilateral ties," a ministry official here said.

This is not the first time that Belt and Road propaganda has run ahead of itself. The Chinese government announced in late March that Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon told his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang that Korea seeks to "actively participate" in the initiative. The Korean government denied that Lee made such comments.

But the Foreign Ministry here on Wednesday said that does not mean that Korea is against the initiative. Rather, it is "looking for common areas between our government's New Southern and New Northern policies and the visions of other countries in the region."

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