China’s highest legislative body will meet on Tuesday to decide on “official appointments”, at a time when the Chinese foreign minister has not been seen in public for a month.
Beijing has not yet clarified the whereabouts of Qin Gang, in a period of frantic diplomatic activity for the Asian country. The last time Qin appeared in public was on June 25, when she met with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko.
The official Xinhua news agency said Monday night that the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee will also “review the legislative amendments.”
According to the NPC Observer portal, which tracks NPC activity, the legislative body has had only nine meetings off the agenda, which is determined months in advance, in the last ten years. Today’s meeting is one of those exceptions.
Through the social network Twitter, the NPC Observer highlighted the short notice with which the meeting was announced: “According to publicly available information, it may be the first time in ten years that the conclave is convened on the eve.”
Earlier this month, Chinese diplomatic spokeswoman Mao Ning justified Qin Gang’s absence from a meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers in Jakarta for “health reasons.”
Questioned again about the whereabouts of the official, Mao said, at a press conference on Monday, that he had no information and denied that his absence had an impact on the country’s diplomatic activities.
Qin, 57, was appointed foreign minister last December. He was previously ambassador to Washington and is fluent in English.
The appointment as minister came at a time when Beijing ended the “zero covid” policy, which kept the country’s borders closed for almost three years.
The reopening of the borders provided a busy diplomatic schedule, with leaders and senior officials from foreign countries visiting China every week.
In addition to hosting foreign dignitaries in Beijing, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Qin has visited Europe, Africa and Central Asia.
Qin replaced Wang Yi, current director of the Office of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), with an international agenda marked by the war in Ukraine or the growing rivalry between Beijing and Washington.
Hu Xijin, an influential Chinese commentator and former editor-in-chief of the Global Times, the CCP’s official newspaper, admitted, in a comment posted on the Weibo social network, that “everyone is concerned about an issue, but they cannot discuss it publicly.”
“You have to find a balance between maintaining the status quo and respecting the public’s right to be informed,” he said.
In China, the disappearance of high officials, celebrities and businessmen is common. Often the authorities announce later that the missing person is being investigated or punished.
Among the most prominent cases in recent years is that of the former Chinese head of Interpol Meng Hongwei, who disappeared during a trip to China in 2018. In 2020 he was sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison by a Chinese court for receiving more than two million dollars in bribes.
Last February, Bao Fan, the founder of an investment bank, also disappeared. A week later, the company admitted “to knowledge” that Bao was cooperating in an investigation.
Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai also stopped being seen in public in 2021 after accusing a former Chinese vice premier of sexual misconduct.
Source: TSF
