Qin Gang, the Chinese foreign minister appointed at the end of December, has been absent for almost a month. The lack of evidence of the face representing the Asian giant to the world, a trusted man of President Xi Jinping, contrasts with the diplomatic uproar in Beijing. In recent weeks, the People’s Republic’s capital has received important visits from senior US officials in a bid to stem the deterioration in relations between the two superpowers. After more than 15 days of silence, the Chinese government argued, citing “health reasons”, that Qin Gang would not attend an international forum. Since then, there has been no news about the 57-year-old former ambassador to the United States, who is known for his harsh words and quick wit as a wolf warrior, as China’s toughest diplomats are known.
The last time he was seen on duty was on June 25th. Dressed in a suit and handsome in official pictures, he met with the foreign ministers of Vietnam, Sri Lanka and the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister that day.
A week earlier, on June 18, China’s foreign minister conducted the most anticipated interview of his term, with Antony Blinken, the first US secretary of state to visit the country in five years. “China-US relations are at their lowest point since their inception,” Qin told his US counterpart. “This serves neither the fundamental interests of the two peoples nor the shared expectations of the international community,” he added.
A day later, Blinken met Xi in person at a table where Qin was also sitting. These meetings left a feeling that the free-fall ties between the first and second economic powers on the planet had been broken. Although US President Joe Biden called his Chinese counterpart a “dictator” a day later, Beijing continues to host a number of high-profile US politicians: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in early July; This week, Special Envoy for Climate Action John Kerry and centenarian former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger met. Qin did not attend any of these visits.
The days of Chinese diplomacy have moved on at a tedious pace since strict anti-pandemic measures ended in December and reopened in early 2023. Many leaders from half the world have visited the country: from French Emmanuel Macron to Brazilian Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Spaniard Pedro Sánchez. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was also planning to visit Beijing, but according to Bloomberg, he postponed the visit mainly because of Qin’s absence.
The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, has not yet been able to fly to Beijing. His first attempt in April had to be abandoned when the European tested positive for Covid; the second, scheduled for the second week of July, was suspended by the Chinese authorities. “Unfortunately, our Chinese colleagues have informed us that the appointments planned for next week are no longer possible and we now have to look for alternatives,” EU foreign policy chief Nabila Massrali told Portal on July 4.
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At the time, Beijing-based European diplomatic sources viewed Qin’s absence as an incident that, while surprising, was part of the normal course of Chinese politics. To cite an example, shortly before his appointment as General Secretary of the Communist Party in 2012, Xi Jinping disappeared for two weeks. “Maybe they are preparing something important,” these sources surmised.
According to a report by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, the Chinese foreign ministry was first asked on July 7 whether the cancellation of Borrell’s visit was related to Qin’s health condition. Spokesman Wang Wenbin replied that he had “not heard anything about it.” Just four days later, he assured that Qin would not attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, for “health reasons.” However, these references have been removed from the official transcripts.
He was replaced by the experienced Wang Yi, who has held the post several times since then. Wang, who has served as foreign minister for the past decade, is currently director of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party Central Committee, a position hierarchically superior to Qin in the People’s Republic’s complex pyramid of power.
A major milestone in China’s international outlook was also passed in Qin’s absence: the new Foreign Relations Law. The norm, which has been in effect since July 1, highlights the central role of the Communist Party in shaping international policy and is intended to provide Beijing with mechanisms to defend itself against sanctions and other coercive measures from Washington. The lecture was given by Wang Yi, who spoke of the need to have legal “tools” “for foreign struggles.”
The Qin case has not received any attention in the state media. Meanwhile, there was speculation on social media. According to the platform reproduced by Portal, searches for “Qin Gang” on the search engine Baidu (Chinese Google) have increased 28-fold over the past week, to as many as 380,000 per day. Hu Xijin, former director of the official Global Times newspaper and one of China’s most influential opinion leaders, posted a comment on Weibo (Chinese Twitter) last week in which, without mentioning the minister, he called for transparency in the information in order to improve official credibility and instill confidence in the people.
After more than three decades of service at China’s foreign ministry, Qin took office in December at a time of global fires amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the uphill battle with the United States. When he was in office a little over a month, the US-launched alleged spy balloon crisis erupted, sending relations with Washington into a downward spiral. He had just returned from the North American capital, where he had briefly served as ambassador.
Qin became a household name as a foreign speaker years ago for his often outspoken rebuttals. He cemented ties with President Xi Jinping as he escorted him around world capitals following his appointment as Director-General of Protocol. A senior member of a European government who met him described him as “tough and direct”. In his first appearance before the press after his appointment as secretary, he warned the US that if it doesn’t hit the brakes, “there will certainly be conflict and confrontation.”
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