Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has not been seen in public for more than three weeks and has already missed important diplomatic appointments, raising questions about his whereabouts.
Qin, one of the faces of China’s new generation of diplomats known as “warrior wolves”, was last seen in public on June 25, meeting with authorities from Sri Lanka, Russia and Vietnam in the Chinese capital.
Since then, there has been no mention of Qin Gang, who previously served as ambassador to Washington, by Chinese diplomacy or the official press.
Last week, Beijing said Qin’s absence from the meeting of Southeast Asian ministers in Jakarta was due to health reasons. This justification is missing from the official transcript of the regular press conference with the Chinese diplomacy spokesman, later posted on the Foreign Ministry website. The agency often excludes content it deems sensitive from daily conference transcripts.
The prolonged absence contrasts sharply with the sudden rise last December, when his determined and aggressive tone was awarded the post of minister, kicking off months of frantic activity in the wake of China’s reopening after nearly three years of ‘zero’. policy.covid’.
Qin replaced Wang Yi — who is now the director of the Chinese Communist Party’s Bureau of Foreign Relations — with an international agenda marked by the war in Ukraine or the growing rivalry between Beijing and Washington.
His last high-profile public appearance came last June, when he met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Beijing at a time when both sides were trying to restore communications to prevent competition from turning into conflict. to open.
Qin was scheduled to meet with European Union diplomat Josep Borrell in Beijing this month, but he postponed the meeting without giving an explanation.
Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry, said on Monday she had “no information” about when Qin might return to the post. “China’s diplomatic activities continue,” he said.
In China, the disappearance of high officials, celebrities and businessmen is common. Often the authorities later announce that the missing person is being investigated or has been punished.
Qin also did not participate in Beijing’s meetings with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, nor did he receive White House special envoy for climate change John Kerry in the Chinese capital.
A search for Qin Gang’s name on the social network Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, returns results from more than a month ago.
Journalist and analyst Phil Cunningham said five sentences about Qin were deleted without notice from an op-ed he wrote about China-US relations for the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Phil noted in the article that it was an unfortunate time for a former ambassador to Washington to fade from the political scene and wondered if it was due to illness or “political disadvantage”.
Qin is considered a rising star in the Chinese Communist Party apparatus. He is seen as close to Chinese President Xi Jinping, with whom he worked as chief of protocol before serving as deputy foreign minister between 2018 and 2021.
Source: DN
