Chen Weihua

Chen Weihua
Chen in 2023
Born	November 1963 (age 60)[1] Shanghai, China[2]
Nationality	Chinese
Alma mater	Fudan University
Employer	China Daily
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	陈卫华
Traditional Chinese	陳衛華
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Chén Wèihuá

Chen Weihua (Chinese: 陈卫华) is a Chinese journalist, currently serving as EU bureau chief of China Daily, an English-language newspaper owned by the Chinese Communist Party.^[3][4][5][6] Chen has previously served as a columnist, chief Washington correspondent, and deputy editor of the U.S. edition of China Daily.^[7][8][9]

Education

Chen is a graduate of Fudan University, where he studied international journalism and microbiology.^[8] After graduating, Chen has held fellowships at the University of Hawai'i and Macalester College, as well as a John S. Knight journalism fellowship at Stanford University from 2004 until 2005.^[8][10][11]

Career

Chen began his journalism career at China Daily in 1987.^[8] His writing focuses on U.S. politics and U.S.-China relations.^[12][13]

In 2005, while a journalism fellow at Stanford University, Chen served as the deputy editor-in-chief of the Shanghai Star and the deputy Shanghai bureau chief of China Daily. Since then, Chen has served as a columnist and chief Washington correspondent for China Daily^[14][11] and the deputy editor for China Daily USA.^[8] He has appeared on China Central Television, ABC News, NPR and KQED.^[11] As of 2020, Chen serves as the EU bureau chief of China Daily.^[4][5][15] According to the editorial board of The Jerusalem Post, he has remained a popular columnist at China Daily.^[16]

Chen has used Twitter to criticize politicians and public figures who are critical of the Chinese government.^{[17][18][19][20][21][22]} The Globe and Mail reports that Chen's tweets are consistent with the tone of wolf warrior diplomacy.^[23] Chen has defended his tweets publicly, writing in China Daily that: "[i]f ... despicable words, deeds and conspiracies do not trigger the strongest response from Chinese diplomats, then they are not doing their job."^[24]

Chen's Twitter account was briefly suspended in 2019 for what Twitter described as "inciting violence" towards protestors in Hong Kong, after writing that the protestors would have been shot by police if they were in the United States.^[23] In December 2020, Chen engaged in a Twitter argument with American politician Marsha Blackburn after she labeled China as a nation with a "5,000 year history of cheating and stealing." Chen responded with several tweets, including one solely stating "Bitch" and another labeling Blackburn as the "most racist and ignorant US Senator" he has seen and a "lifetime bitch".^[25][26]

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chen repeated Russian claims disputing the veracity of the Bucha massacre.^[27]

References