China’s foreign minister ousted after mysterious monthlong absence
Mike Brest
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Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang was ousted from his position and replaced by his predecessor after a weekslong unexplained absence.
Qin, 57, a trusted aide of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, had only been appointed foreign minister in December after serving as China’s ambassador to Washington, though no reason has been provided publicly for his removal.
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Wang Yi will now assume his old position, which he held from 2013 through 2022. Before being named as the replacement, he had been the director of the foreign affairs arm of the ruling Communist Party, a position that makes him China’s top diplomat.
Qin has not been seen in public since June 25, when he held talks with counterparts from Russia, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka, according to Al Jazeera. His final appearance in state media occurred around the same time he met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, who visited Beijing less than 48 hours after the Wagner mercenary group’s short-lived attempted mutiny.
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Beijing has kept a tight lid on information about Qin’s status, even in the days since he missed a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Indonesia earlier this month. Chinese Foreign Ministry officials claimed he skipped the ASEAN summit “because of health reasons.”
Last week, Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng demurred when asked about Qin, saying, “Well, the Foreign Ministry spokesman had already briefed the media on this news.”