Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who has been absent from public ceremonies for a month, was sacked on Tuesday and replaced by his predecessor, Wang Yi, state media reported.
The decision was taken during a session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (Chinese Parliament), according to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua, adding that the governor of the Central Bank, Yi Gang, was also removed from his post, being replaced by Pan Gongsheng.
Qin Gang has not appeared in public since June 25, the day he met officials from Sri Lanka, Russia and Vietnam in the Chinese capital, and since then he has been absent from various diplomatic events, giving rise to various speculations about his whereabouts and situation.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations did not give any explanation about the situation in its instructions Tuesday newspaper.
Earlier this month, Chinese diplomatic spokeswoman Mao Ning excused Qin Gang’s absence from an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers’ meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, for “health reasons.”
Questioned again about the whereabouts of the person responsible, the spokeswoman said, at a press conference on Monday, that she had no information in this regard and denied that his absence had any impact on the country’s diplomatic activities.
Qin Gang, 57, was appointed foreign minister in December. He was previously ambassador to Washington and is fluent in English.
The appointment as minister came at a time when Beijing ended the covid zero policy, which kept the country’s borders closed for almost three years.
In addition to hosting foreign dignitaries in Beijing, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the Qin Gang traveled to Europe, Africa and Central Asia.
Qin replaced Wang Yi, current director of the Office of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and listed as the main Chinese diplomat, 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.”
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
