2023-07-25 11:34:43
July 25, 2023 at 11:31 am
Last updated: 5 hours ago
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Qin Gang became the Chinese foreign minister with the shortest tenure since the founding of the Communist Party of China in 1949.
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress decided to remove Qin Gang, who was concurrently serving as foreign minister, and appointed Wang Yi as foreign minister, but did not explain why.
As of that day, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang had not been seen in public for a month, and he was absent from a series of diplomatic activities, which is very rare.
The official news agency Xinhua reported that the NPC Standing Committee held the fourth session of the 14th NPC Standing Committee in Beijing on Tuesday (July 25), which involved “considering relevant appointment and dismissal cases” and made the decision. But the report did not mention why Qin Gang was dismissed.
China Central Television reported that President Xi Jinping then signed a presidential decree approving the decision. But the report did not mention the removal of Qin Gang’s title of State Councilor.
This is a rare scene in Chinese politics since the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Qin Gang was appointed as foreign minister in December last year, and it has only been more than half a year so far, making him the foreign minister with the shortest tenure since the founding of the Communist Party of China.
In the past month, Qin Gang’s “disappearance” has sparked speculation among analysts and netizens regarding his whereregardings. The sudden disappearance of a senior Chinese official from public view is usually seen as a sign of potential trouble, including for health reasons or a political crisis.
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Qin Gang’s disappearance from the public eye has sparked speculation, with officials saying he had health problems.
Beijing on Monday (24th) temporarily announced that a meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress will be held the next day.
Before Tuesday’s announcement, Qin Gang, 57, was China’s youngest foreign minister in half a century and the country’s youngest current deputy state-level cadre.
Qin Gang’s last public appearance was on June 25, when he met with visiting Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son in Beijing. Chinese officials released the last news regarding him on the 11th of this month. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that Qin Gang was unable to attend foreign affairs activities due to “health reasons”. During that time, Wang Yi, the previous foreign minister and now director of the Central Foreign Affairs Office, was performing some diplomatic duties.
who is qin gang
The 56-year-old Qin Gang will take over as Minister of Foreign Affairs in December 2022, replacing Wang Yi, who has been in office for nearly ten years and is 69 years old. In March of the following year, he was appointed as one of the five state councilors of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, breaking with convention and becoming the only official to be promoted to this position in a relatively short period of time.
Qin Gang has always had a smooth official career. Before he became the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he served as the US ambassador to China. He has no experience in dealing with the United States before, nor has he been stationed in the United States.
Prior to his appointment in 2018 as deputy foreign minister, he became the youngest person to hold the post, with responsibility for European affairs and protocol.
Qin Gang is also regarded as the right-hand man of Chinese President Xi Jinping and has accompanied Xi Jinping on many foreign visits. In 2016, when he served as the director of the Protocol Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he helped President Xi Jinping prepare for the G20 summit in Hangzhou and established a good relationship with Xi.
Qin Gang is an experienced diplomat who has served in China’s diplomatic system for more than 30 years. According to the public information of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was stationed in London three times and served as a counselor and minister at the Chinese embassy in the UK.
Ambassador to the United States
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Qin Gang’s appointment as China’s ambassador to the United States was not officially confirmed until he arrived in Washington.
Qin Gang will succeed Cui Tiankai as the Chinese ambassador to the United States in July 2021, at a time when Sino-US relations are declining rapidly.
In a speech to Chinese and American media following arriving at his new post, he said, “The door to Sino-US relations has been opened, and it will not be closed.”
He said: “Dr. Kissinger made a secret visit to China 50 years ago and opened the door of China. At that time, during the Cold War period, China and the United States were isolated from each other. The visionary Dr. Kissinger had to go to China in a covert way. Today, 50 years later, as the 11th Chinese ambassador to the United States, I can openly embark on the right path and reach the United States.”
In the following months, Qin Gang tried to launch a charm offensive, such as attending public events, riding a tractor with farmers and sharing moon cakes with students. This all shows his efforts to try to get in touch with the local Americans.
Among other things, he met with pro-Beijing interest groups and once tweeted following the event, half-jokingly writing, “Giant pandas are no longer endangered!”
But these seem to have no obvious effect on easing Sino-US relations. During his 15-month tenure, Sino-US relations continued to deteriorate.
“Wolf Warrior” Diplomat
image copyrightWOLF WARRIOR 2
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The term “Wolf Warrior” comes from a patriotic film directed by Chinese actor Wu Jing that was popular with Chinese audiences.
Qin Gang’s well-known experience is that he served as the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs twice in 2005 and 2011. During this period, he was responsible for hosting routine press conferences and responded to reporters’ questions with fierce words many times.
China’s online media has spread Qin Gang’s “famous scene” many times, and some news media use the word “hard and fierce” to describe Qin Gang’s speaking style.
For example, in 2009, when a reporter asked a question regarding the suspected Chinese cyber espionage system, Qin Gang responded:
“In foreign countries, there is a ghost called the Cold War, and a virus called the China Threat Theory. The people possessed by the ghosts of the Cold War carry the virus of the China Threat Theory, and they break out from time to time. These people will never succeed in using rumors to discredit China.”
Qin Gang also responded to media questions regarding “Wolf Warrior Diplomacy”.
In 2021, at a briefing for Chinese and foreign media on the Summit of Central and Eastern European Countries, then Vice Foreign Minister Qin Gang said: “Some people say that China engages in ‘Wolf Warrior Diplomacy’. If we take a look at the groundless and bottomless slander once morest China by some countries and people, I’m afraid they can’t be described as ‘Wolf Warriors’. They are simply ‘bad wolves.'”
He has repeatedly stated a strong stance on the Taiwan issue
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Qin Gang was one of the first diplomats to speak sharply in defense of China, and often debated with reporters at press conferences. Most analysts believe that Qin Gang continued this style during his tenure in Washington.
During his tenure as ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang expressed his position on the most sensitive Taiwan issue in Sino-US relations many times.
In 2021, he said at the annual meeting of the China Association for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification held in San Francisco: “The tension in the Taiwan Strait is tense, and the United States cannot absolve itself of the blame. The United States continues to manipulate the Taiwan issue in an attempt to ‘use Taiwan to control China’, which will definitely shoot itself in the foot.”
He also said: “We are willing to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification with the utmost sincerity and efforts, and redouble our efforts to promote cross-strait integration and development. At the same time, we reserve the option to take all necessary measures.”
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In August of the following year, Pelosi, then Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, visited Taiwan, triggering the most serious Taiwan Strait crisis in recent years. Qin Gang was interviewed by many media. He said: “Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan is a reckless and provocative move. It is an escalation of the substantive relationship between the United States and Taiwan. It violates the commitments made by the United States in the three Sino-US joint communiqués, including that there is only one China in the world.”
Qin Gang also said: “Fundamentally speaking, the Taiwan issue is not an issue of democracy and freedom, but an issue of China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and an issue of the national dignity of the Chinese people.”
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