The Diplomat Brief

 "Wolf warriors in sheep's clothing?"

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October 14, 2026 thediplomat.com

Welcome to the latest issue of Diplomat Brief. This week we dig into China’s new style of subnational diplomacy in Australia. We also check in on the brewing South Korea-Ukraine rift and much more..  ­ STORY OF THE WEEK ­ FEATURE Wolf Warriors in Sheep’s Clothing: China’s New Subnational Diplomacy in Australia  During Xi Jinping’s first decade as Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary and chairman of state, Beijing’s approach to Australia grew increasingly blunt and confrontational, a style known as “wolf warrior diplomacy.”  More recently, Chinese diplomats have shifted to a quieter, more self-assured form of subnational diplomacy. In contrast to the bluster of the wolf warrior era, this approach is largely conducted behind closed doors and has become more evident since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s July 2025 visit to China. The election of the Albanese government in 2022 early signaled a thaw in what had been an icy bilateral relationship between Australia and China under the preceding Coalition governments of Malcolm Turnbull (2015-18) and Scott Morrison (2018-22).  On his second visit to China as prime minister, Albanese spent a week “stabilizing” relations through renewed business, trade, educational, cultural, and inter-governmental initiatives.   Among the knock-on effects in Australia was a flurry of Chinese diplomatic initiatives at the local level. Find out more Videos ­ VIDEO Southeast Asia Has a Serious Drug Problem Our YouTube channel, The Diplomat explains major topics and trends in the Asia-Pacific in video form. According to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime – or UNODC – seizures of methamphetamine in Southeast Asia hit a new record of 349 tons in 2025, up from 236 tons the year before. Where are all the drugs coming from? And can the illegal industry be stopped? That’s what we explore in our latest video. Watch the video Read Like The Diplomat ­ BOOKS Farewell to Russia: A Journey Through the Former USSR In “Farewell to Russia: A Journey Through the Former USSR” journalist Joe Luc Barnes travels across the 15 states that once comprised the Soviet Union.  In an excerpt published by The Diplomat, Barnes stops off in Karaganda, the heart of Kazakh coal country and once the site of a notorious gulag. When you buy any book through our Bookshop.org shop, a portion of the proceeds comes back to The Diplomat. October 6-7 FREE SHIPPING is available for any books in our shop. Find out more Behind The News ­ INTERVIEW Jouko Ahvenainen on the Geopolitics of AI in Asia “AI is increasingly connecting technology policy, national security, industrial policy, and geopolitics. Nowhere is this more visible than in the Asia-Pacific,” says Jouko Ahvenainen – founder and chairman of Mission Grey and serial entrepreneur in data analytics, fintech, and external intelligence.  “It is important, however, not to see the region simply through a China-U.S. lens.” Find out more This Week in Asia ­ NORTHEAST ASIA South Korea-Ukraine Rift Grows On September 24, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the world – literally, as he was speaking at the U.N. General Assembly – that Ukraine had transferred two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea, at the captured soldiers’ request. The statement sparked a backlash in Seoul. South Korea’s government is typically mum on the topic of defectors, as their family members can face severe persecution in North Korea. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung accused Zelenskyy of violating an agreement to keep the POW transfer a secret. Ukraine denied any agreement, and later attributed the spat to a “misunderstanding.” That only escalated South Korean fury, with Seoul eventually withdrawing its ambassador to Ukraine. The rift comes at a time when the two countries should face common cause. North Korea – which considers the South a “hostile state” and continues to test-launch ballistic missiles at a regular clip – has sent tens of thousands of troops to support Russia’s war on Ukraine. Find out more ­ SOUTH ASIA Indian IT Companies Are in Trump’s Crosshairs In March, when an American submarine sank an Iranian naval frigate, IRIS Dena, off the Sri Lankan coast, Sri Lanka’s navy rescued the survivors. Months later,  around 20 Iranian tankers are stranded off its coast. Visiting American civilian and military officials have repeatedly warned the government against providing the Iranian vessels with essential supplies, despite the potential humanitarian crisis. Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath has tried to distance the government from any private suppliers who might be supplying the stranded Iranian ships. Find out more ­ SOUTHEAST ASIA U.S. Drops Sanctions on Daughter of Myanmar Businessman The U.S. government this week lifted sanctions on the daughter of Thein Win Zaw, a businessman accused of supporting the country’s military. The move came after Theint Win Htet filed a lawsuit seeking her removal from the from the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals List (SDN List), arguing that she had nothing to do her father’s business and that her designation had disrupted her education in the United States. Thein Win Zaw is the owner and founder of the Shwe Byain Phyu Group of Companies, which the Treasury Department said “has developed a historic relationship with Burma’s military to import and distribute petroleum.” The Treasury Department did not say why it had deleted Theint Win Htet’s name from the list, opening up speculation about possible political motives. The move comes after Reuters news agency reported that the U.S. government recently engaged in direct talks with the military-backed government for the first time since the February 2021 coup. Find out more ­ CENTRAL ASIA The Mystery of Kyrgyzstan’s Newly Launched Satellite(s)  On October 1, Kyrgyzstan reportedly joined Central Asia’s other spacefaring nations, successfully launching a domestically designed and produced nanosatellite aboard a SpaceX rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Speaking from California on launch day, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov said, “We did not have our own satellite before… now we will no longer be dependent on [other countries].” But the next day, news reports began to include a previously unmentioned detail: the satellite was a joint effort between Kyrgyzstan and the United Arab Emirates, and Bishkek doesn’t quite control it, the UAE does. That’s when local media suggested there were two satellites, one developed by the UAE and one with Russian assistance. Find out more Podcasts ­ PODCAST El Niño, Climate Catastrophe, and the Coming Financial Showdown In the latest episode of the Beyond the Mekong podcast, host Luke Hunt chats with Pablo Berrutti, founder and managing director of Altiorem – a sustainable finance library – about Nepal’s glacial collapse, Indonesia’s wildfires, and why efforts at climate mitigation are falling short. Find out more Visualizing APAC ­ Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan stands beside U.S. President Donald Trump, announcing roughly $54 billion in prospective South Korean investment in the Alaska LNG pipeline weeks before the midterm elections. Seoul described the Alaska announcement quite differently. Find out more Follow The Diplomat ­ This newsletter was sent to kh6jrm@gmail.com. Unsubscribe Diplomat Media Inc. 1101 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22209, USA support@thediplomat.com | thediplomat.com ©2026 Diplomat Media Inc. All rights reserved.