2023-09-28 18:28:28
China’s Defense Minister, Li Shangfu (REUTERS/Caroline Chia)
A Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday that he was “not aware of the situation” in the ministry’s first public comments on the defense minister’s disappearance from public view regarding a month ago.
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Colonel Wu Qian, director of the ministry’s information office, gave only a one-sentence answer when asked at a monthly news conference whether Li Shangfu is under investigation for corruption and whether he is still defense minister.
“I am not aware of the situation you mentioned,” Wu said in response to a question from a foreign media outlet.
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Li, who became defense minister when a new cabinet was named in March, has not been seen since giving a speech on August 29. He is the second senior official to go missing this year, following former Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who was removed from office in July.
The spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Defense, Wu Qian (REUTERS/Shubing Wang)
The Chinese regime has given no reason for his dismissal, nor why both he and Li suddenly stopped making public appearances. There are no indications, at least so far, that his disappearance indicates a change in China’s foreign or defense policy.
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The unexplained disappearance of officials and others is not uncommon in China and is often followed months later by the announcement of criminal charges once morest the person. However, the disappearance of two sitting ministers in quick succession is unusual.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel tweeted earlier this month that the makeup of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s cabinet “now resembles Agatha Christie’s novel ‘And Then There Were None.'”
The United States ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel (Andrew Harnik/REUTERS)
Wu, the Defense Ministry spokesman, downplayed concerns expressed by U.S. officials that the two countries do not have clear channels of military-to-military communication.
He said the problem is not a lack of communication but the need for the United States to change its way of putting relations between the two militaries on track.
“America always wants to tie someone’s hands and feet, so they can do whatever they want,” he said.
He also said Taiwan is “going down the path of its own destruction” with the self-ruled island launching its first domestically-made submarine on Thursday.
Wu, who opened the news conference with an announcement regarding a global security conference to be held in Beijing next month, dodged a question regarding Li from another foreign media reporter, who asked whether the defense minister would attend the conference. .
“We will release information regarding the Beijing Xiangshan Forum in due course,” he said.
(With information from AP)
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