Missing for a month: Where is Qin Gang, China’s foreign minister?

China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang has not

been seen in public for almost a month, sparking a flurry of questions over
his whereabouts.

Here’s what we know so far about the disappearance of one of China’s most
senior diplomats:

– Who is Qin Gang? –

Qin, considered a confidant of President Xi Jinping, was appointed foreign
minister in December 2022.

The 57-year-old spent several years at the Chinese embassy in London and is a
fluent English speaker.

Qin earned a reputation as a “Wolf Warrior”, a nickname given to a new
generation of Chinese diplomats who push back with often inflammatory
rhetoric against Western criticism of Beijing.

He said in 2020 the image of China in the West had deteriorated because
Europeans and Americans — in particular the media — had never accepted the
Chinese political system or its economic rise.

While serving as ambassador to the United States, Qin stepped up his
visibility through public and media appearances in Washington in which he
explained the Chinese position.

He kept up a busy schedule after his appointment as minister, visiting
Africa, Europe and Central Asia as well as hosting foreign dignitaries in
Beijing.

– What do we know about his whereabouts? –

Qin has not been seen in public since June 25, when he met Russia’s deputy
foreign minister Andrey Rudenko in Beijing.

But it was his absence from a high-level ASEAN summit in Indonesia two weeks
later that first raised eyebrows.

China’s foreign ministry said “health reasons” were to blame for Qin’s
absence.

But that has done little to stem an explosion of rumours online.

“Everyone is concerned about something but cannot discuss it publicly,” Hu
Xijin, a prominent commentator with the state tabloid Global Times, said in a
post on Weibo.

“A balance needs to be struck between maintaining the situation and
respecting the public’s right to know,” he said.

The foreign ministry has since deflected further questions about Qin’s
absence.

– Who is representing China in his stead? –

Qin’s absence has left a vacuum at the top of China’s foreign ministry.

A visit by the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to Beijing
was abruptly called off this month.

And Bloomberg reported on Friday that a visit by UK Foreign Secretary James
Cleverly was postponed due to Qin’s absence.

Top foreign policy official Wang Yi — who outranks Qin in China’s political
hierarchy — has taken on some of his responsibilities in the meantime,
travelling to Africa this week to attend a BRICS meeting on security affairs
in Johannesburg.

Beijing insisted Monday that “China’s diplomatic activities are moving
forward steadily”.

Asked about Qin’s now almost month-long absence, foreign ministry spokeswoman
Mao Ning told journalists: “I have no information to offer.”

But as the foreign ministry reaches a month without a visible boss, doubts
will start to mount over how much it’s business as usual.

“When the top dog is disappeared by the state, everyone in the organization
freezes,” tweeted Desmond Shum, a former Chinese business and political
insider and author of “Red Roulette”.

“Who’s going to sign on the dotted line of the minister?” (BSS/AFP)