Once upon a time, diplomacy was considered an art. But now, we live in the times of ‘twiplomacy’!
To quote Atal Bihari Vajpayee, “Quiet diplomacy is far more effective than public posturing.”
That, however, is no longer the case.
While career diplomats struggle to keep the polished craft alive, heads of state fight it out on Twitter. US President Donald Trump is leading the charge. His ‘undiplomatic’ use of Twitter is a constant challenge to traditional diplomacy, where words were carefully weighed and chosen before they were spoken.
US President Donald Trump has redefined diplomacy. (Source: Reuters)
But Trump uses his personal Twitter handle @realDonaldTrump rather than the official White House handle, @WhiteHouse, for the POTUS.
Here is diplomacy looks like now.
Recently, Trump called out Pakistan for “not doing a damn thing for US”, even as America kept pumping billions of dollars to ensure Islamabad’s support in its fight against terrorism.
While the war against terror was being fought with apparent help from Pakistan, Osama Bin Laden, the terrorist whom America was looking for to avenge 9/11, was resting peacefully in Abbottabad, protected by the country’s military. Pakistan’s new Twitter-savvy Prime Minister, Imran Khan, took to the microblogging site to put the record straight on Trump’s tirade.
When President Trump accused Pakistan of not doing a “damn thing for US”, PM Khan hit back:
Instead of making Pakistan a scapegoat for their failures, the US should do a serious assessment of why, despite 140000 NATO troops plus 250,000 Afghan troops & reportedly $1 trillion spent on war in Afghanistan, the Taliban today are stronger than before.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) November 19, 2018
No sooner had Khan tweeted this that President Trump returned to the subject in a long tweet, whose newsworthy line is, “We paid Pakistan billions of dollars and they never told us he was living there. Fools!”
Of course we should have captured Osama Bin Laden long before we did. I pointed him out in my book just BEFORE the attack on the World Trade Center. President Clinton famously missed his shot. We paid Pakistan Billions of Dollars & they never told us he was living there. Fools!..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2018
This exchange of gunfire on Twitter between the wayward allies took their relationship to a new low.
This exchange had all the hallmarks of the Trump era diplomacy.
Whatever goes through Trump’s brain is broadcast on Twitter moments later, leaving no scope for evolved diplomacy. Countless diplomats and officials are then sent scurrying to contain the damage, as was seen recently during President Trump’s France visit. The Guardian aptly described the visit as “He came, He sulked, He tweeted.”
Is there any scope for level-headed statecraft after this?
Apparently, there is! Jog your memory to the Twitter spat between Trump and Kim Jong-un.
North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018
The US President has been frequently insulting his opponents and mocking foreign leaders, even calling North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “little rocket man”.
The Chinese Envoy, who just returned from North Korea, seems to have had no impact on Little Rocket Man. Hard to believe his people, and the military, put up with living in such horrible conditions. Russia and China condemned the launch.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2017
He also mentioned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a chemical-killing "animal”.
Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria. Area of atrocity is in lockdown and encircled by Syrian Army, making it completely inaccessible to outside world. President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2018
His tweets have carried unveiled threats of air strikes and wars. He had threatened North Korea with war, saying continued threats against the US would be “met with fire and fury like the world has never seen”.
Very few world leaders have replied directly to Trump to avoid a Twitter spat with the most powerful global leader on a public platform.
But that did not deter Kim Jong-un. He responded by calling Trump “mentally deranged”.
North Korea once promised “thousands-fold” revenge against the US.
The degree to which Trump and Kim continue to temper down their rhetoric remains to be seen.
Fast-forward to the moment when Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un shook hands and smiled at each other with a promise that the past does not have to define the present. It was the landmark June summit in Singapore.
Despite the angry words, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have given friendship a chance. (Source: Reuters)
Recently, when Pyongyang’s top diplomat said there was no way the country would disarm under current conditions, hours later, Trump said he and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “fell in love” over the course of their on-again, off-again détente.
Trump is the world leader in Twiplomacy too. He has the maximum number of followers (55.8 million) when it comes to world leaders.
He has set the tone for diplomacy on Twitter — others are following his standard.
When India cancelled a meeting between Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UNGA, we saw Imran Khan’s Trump-ish outburst against India.
Prime Minister Khan took to Twitter and said:
Disappointed at the arrogant & negative response by India to my call for resumption of the peace dialogue. However, all my life I have come across small men occupying big offices who do not have the vision to see the larger picture.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) September 22, 2018
Should heads of state engage in such unrestrained public reactions?
It leaves one wondering if this is really how a head of state should speak about another. It certainly is disappointing — and it doesn’t augur well for a more cultured and restrained diplomacy.
To quote research on the subject, ninety-seven per cent of all 193 UN member states have an official presence on Twitter. Realising the potential of a tweet, when Trump decided to leave the Paris Climate Agreement on June 1, 2017, the prime ministers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden got together to urge @realDonaldTrump to not leave the accord.
But Trump’s liberal use of his Twitter account has created unease within his own administration.
Diplomacy was once a fine art of communication with finesse and precision. Diplomacy, in the age of social media, especially in the times of Twitter, is beginning to leave its restrained, protected past, where it was imagined to be conducted in rarefied environs.
It’s now more direct, blunt and out in the open.
What made good diplomacy tick was economy in the use of words and the ability to read the unsaid.
Not anymore.
Happy tweeting!