US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing June 18, 2023. LEAH MILLIS / AP / POOL
But where did Qin Gang, the Chinese foreign minister, go? As of June 25, it has completely disappeared. No foreign leader has met him.
But from New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on June 27 to Henry Kissinger on July 19, many political figures toured Beijing at the start of the summer to meet top Chinese leaders. But every time it’s Wang Yi, Qin Gang’s predecessor, who replaces him. Henry Kissinger, whose trip had not been announced, was received by Defense Minister Li Shangfu and Wang Yi. As a former United States Secretary of State, he should normally have been received by Qin Gang.
The replacement of the latter by Wang Yi is not without consequences. Although the latter is director of the Central Bureau for Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party (CCP) and a member of the CCP’s Politburo, he no longer has any responsibility within the state apparatus. This is no doubt why China postponed the July 10 visit of Josep Borrel, the European Union’s (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs, to Beijing. Likewise, several European ministers who are preparing for a trip to China are currently waiting. “Even if it is formal, a state cannot sign an agreement with the CCP representative,” confides an ambassador.
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Without knowing whether there is a causal link, the new Ukrainian ambassador in Beijing, who arrived more than a month ago, has officially handed over the copy of his credentials to the Chinese government, but it has still not been received by the country’s authorities. While Kiev has so far downplayed this situation, several EU ambassadors have privately described it as “scandalous”.
Due to Qin Gang’s absence, Wang Yi represented China at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting last week, which the minister was supposed to attend. On that occasion, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry also cited “health reasons” that prevented Qin Gang from traveling.
The rumor machine is on
What health reasons? Secret. The South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong daily, mentioned the Covid-19. But the longer the absence lasts, the more unlikely this hypothesis appears.
Suddenly the rumor machine started. On July 13, the media reported on the minister’s extramarital relationship with a well-known journalist and correspondent for the Phoenix channel in the United States, where she interviewed world leaders, including Qin Gang, who served as ambassador to Washington from July 2021 to January 2023 .
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