Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has not been seen in public for nearly a month, which has raised a number of questions about his whereabouts.
Qin, who is considered a close confidant of President Xi Jinping, was appointed foreign minister in December 2022.
Here’s what is known so far about the disappearance of one of China’s top diplomats:
Who is Qin Gang?
The 57-year-old spent several years at the Chinese embassy in London and is fluent in English.
qin earned the reputation of the “Wolf Warrior”, a nickname given to a new generation of Chinese diplomats who refuted Western criticism of Beijing with often inflammatory rhetoric.
In 2020, he claimed that China’s image in the West had deteriorated because Europeans and Americans – especially the media – had never accepted China’s political system or its economic rise.
As ambassador to the United States, Qin increased his visibility through public and media appearances in Washington, explaining China’s position.
After his appointment as minister, he had a busy schedule: he visited Africa, Europe and Central Asia and received foreign dignitaries in Beijing.
What is known about his whereabouts?
Qin has not been seen in public since June 25, when he met Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko in Beijing.
But it was his absence from a high-level ASEAN summit in Indonesia two weeks later that first aroused suspicion.
China’s foreign ministry stated that Qin’s absence was due to “health reasons”.
But that did little to halt the explosion of Internet rumors.
“Everyone is worried about the situation but cannot talk about it publicly,” Hu Xijin, a leading commentator for the state-run tabloid Global Times, said in a post on Weibo.
“A balance must be struck between maintaining the status quo and respecting the public’s right to know,” he added.
Since then, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been addressing other questions about Qin’s absence.
Who represents China in your place?
Qin’s absence has left a void at the top of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A visit to Beijing by European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was abruptly canceled this month.
However, Bloomberg reported on Friday that British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly’s visit has been postponed due to Qin’s absence.
Meanwhile, top foreign policy official Wang Yi — who ranks higher than Qin in China’s political hierarchy — has shouldered some of his responsibilities by traveling to Africa this week to attend a BRICS meeting on security issues in Johannesburg.
Beijing stressed on Monday that “China’s diplomatic activities are making steady progress”.
But now that the State Department has been without a visible boss for a month, doubts are beginning to emerge as to how far the situation can be considered normal.
Asked about Qin’s absence, which has now lasted nearly a month, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters, “I have no information to give.”
Source: DN
