2023-07-18 21:09:17
Qin Gang
disgraced? China’s foreign minister mysteriously disappeared
The rumor mill surrounding Qin Gang is churning wildly. China’s foreign minister has not been seen in public for more than three weeks.
Published18. July 2023, 23:09
China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang has been missing for more than three weeks.
IMAGO/NTB
He was last seen in public on June 25 after meeting with representatives from Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Russia in Beijing. Pictured: Qin Gang and Ali Sabry, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka.
IMAGO/Xinhua
One of the speculations is that Qin Gang is having an affair and having a child with the well-known Chinese journalist Fu Xiaotian. She is the host of the show “Talk With Word Leaders,” which Qin Gang has also participated in.
IMAGO/piemags
In December 2022, Qin Gang was promoted to China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.
However, he has not been seen in public since June 25.
Due to China’s political opacity, there has been much speculation as to the reason for his absence.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang was last seen in public three weeks ago. And the reason is by no means a lack of diplomatic activity. Several agreed meetings of the MP have been canceled or postponed in the recent past – allegedly for health reasons. Due to the political opacity of China there was much speculation about the real reason for his absence.
That happened
Qin Gang was last seen in public on June 25 after meeting with representatives from Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Russia in Beijing. Everything seemed to be in order, you could see a smiling foreign minister at the side of the representatives who had arrived. Qin was then scheduled to meet with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell earlier this month. But the meeting was postponed two days earlier. Qin also failed to attend an annual meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Indonesia last week. China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, took his place.
That’s what China says
At a press conference last Tuesday, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Qin Gang was unable to attend the ASEAN meeting “due to health reasons”. However, this information was missing from the minutes of the briefing, which was published on the ministry’s website – according to CNN, sensitive content is regularly removed from the minutes. Asked about Qin Gang’s absence by a British reporter on Monday, a ministry spokeswoman said she “had no information to provide.” She added that China’s diplomatic activities would continue uninterrupted.
That’s the speculation
After the press conference, the rumor mill began to churn: Qin Gang is said to be having an affair in the USA with the well-known Chinese journalist Fu Xiaotian, which even resulted in a child. Another rumor is that he was involved in a spy case while he was US Ambassador. There may also be a power struggle raging at the highest level, after all, head of state Xi Jinping helped Qin Gang to an illustrious political career practically single-handedly.
That is known
High-ranking Chinese officials have disappeared from public view in the past. Either they suddenly reappeared on the political stage, or the Communist Party eventually revealed that they had been imprisoned for investigations. A lack of transparency has long been a shortcoming of Chinese politics – and under President Xi Jinping it has even increased. So nobody really knows what exactly happened to Qin Gang. Maybe one day he’ll show up again or he’ll never be seen again.
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