The Chinese foreign minister,Qin Gang has been removed from the post of Foreign Minister of China. He was appointed to the post in December 2022, less than seven months ago.
He will be replaced by Chinese Communist Party foreign affairs chief Wang Yi – who was once a foreign minister.
A total of 29 days since last June 25 Mr. China has not been seen in public. His ministry was also silent on the matter – leading to widespread speculation.
Fifty-seven-year-old Qin Gang was one of the highest-ranking officials of the Chinese Communist Party – who had been absent from public functions for so long.
Mr. China was seen as a trusted ally of President Xi Jinping. He is the youngest foreign minister in the country’s history.
State news agency Xinhua said China’s top legislature voted to appoint Wang Yi as foreign minister, adding that Qin Gang “has been removed from the position of foreign minister.”
Mr. No reason was given for China’s removal, but reports say President Xi signed a decree authorizing the move.
Secrets of the Chinese System
Mr. public event. The Chinese gang’s long absence has sparked widespread speculation online – again drawing public attention to the secrecy of the Chinese authorities’ procedures.
The disappearance of such dignitaries without explanation is not new in China. Many of them, when they later resurfaced, were found to be under criminal investigation.
Current President Xi Jinping himself disappeared for two weeks before becoming China’s leader in 2012. There were rumors about his health and power struggles within the Communist Party.
Not only the diplomatic circles but also the analysts watching the Chinese people and the country were talking about the absence of the Chinese gang.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning was asked about this on Monday, he said – he has no information to give in this regard.
Because of China’s largely opaque operating system, the sudden disappearance of a high-ranking official is seen as a sign of trouble.
A high-ranking official of the Communist Party formulates foreign policy according to the Chinese system and directs the foreign minister to implement it.
Extramarital love? Weird rumors online
After Chinese spokesman Mao Ning’s response, speculation about this rose again, and doubts deepened. Many people commented on the issue on Weibo, a Chinese platform similar to Twitter.
Last week, the Foreign Ministry said Qin Gang would not attend a diplomatic meeting in Indonesia for ‘health reasons’. Instead of Mr. Wang Yi went to that meeting. In addition, Mr. Josep Borel, head of foreign policy affairs of the European Union. A meeting with Keen was also postponed by two weeks – for no reason given. On Monday, Mr. Xi Jinping’s meeting with former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in the press. China was not seen.
In the last seven days, China’s search engine Baidu Mr. The number of online searches for the name China increased by 5,000%.
The theory that spread the most at that time was – Mr. Chin is being investigated for an extramarital affair.
When asked on Monday, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Miz Mao, said that he did not know anything about it.
In addition, Mr. There were also rumors that China was being punished for political reasons.