What will become of it? Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has not been seen in public for nearly a month, sparking an avalanche of speculation and rumors about his whereabouts.
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Here’s what we know so far:
He is considered a confidante of President Xi Jinping and was appointed foreign minister at the end of December 2022.
The 57-year-old career diplomat, who speaks fluent English, notably spent several years at the Chinese Embassy in London and is a former spokesman for his ministry, of which he was notably chief of protocol.
Qin Gang has sometimes been categorized by foreign media as “battle wolves,” a nickname given to some Chinese diplomats who have vehemently hit back at Western criticism of China.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang | AFP archives
In 2020, he felt that China’s image in Western countries had deteriorated because Europeans and Americans, especially their media, had never accepted the Asian giant’s political system and economic growth.
As ambassador to the United States (2021–2022), Qin Gang had gained notoriety in that post, making numerous public appearances and statements to the press to explain his country’s position on international affairs.
After his appointment as minister in December 2022, he consistently had a very busy schedule of visits to Africa, Europe and Central Asia, and received many foreign officials in Beijing.
Qin Gang has not been seen in public since June 25, when he met Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko in Beijing.
But it was only his absence from a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Indonesia two weeks later that raised the first questions.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry justified his absence with “health reasons”. But that wasn’t enough to stem an avalanche of rumors on Chinese social media.
AFP
“There is one issue that everyone is closely watching but cannot be discussed publicly,” Hu Xijin, the influential former editor-in-chief of the state tabloid Global Times, wrote coyly on the social network Weibo, where he is widely followed.
“You have to strike a balance between maintaining a good environment for day-to-day business and giving the public a right to know what’s going on,” said Hu, who is usually known as an advocate of the government line.
The State Department has so far evaded any questions about Qin Gang’s whereabouts.
His absence creates a vacuum at the top of the ministry.
A visit by the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, to Beijing was suddenly canceled in July.
And the Bloomberg news agency claimed on Friday that a visit by British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly had been postponed due to Qin Gang’s absence.
Director of the Bureau of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Wang Yi (right) shakes hands with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (left), AFP
It is Wang Yi, the real head of Chinese diplomacy due to his high rank within the Communist Party, who is performing part of the minister’s duties in his absence.
Mr. Wang, who occupies a higher hierarchical position than Mr. Qin, is currently in South Africa to attend a BRICS group meeting.
For its part, the Chinese Foreign Ministry assures that China’s diplomatic activities are following their normal course.