Mystery Around China’s Former Minister Intensifies as Erased Name Reappears

Qin Gang, State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China, delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the Lanting Forum, held under the theme of "Chinese Modernization and the World", at the Grand Halls, in Shanghai, on April 21, 2023. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP via Getty Images)

On July 28, the Chinese regime reinstated information about Qin Gang, the former foreign minister who was ousted a month after his unexplained disappearance from public view, on the foreign ministry’s website, intensifying mysteries around the senior diplomat.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) didn’t offer any explanations for the removal of Mr. Qin, a decision that state media announced late on July 25 in a one-line statement. Top diplomat Wang Yi was reappointed as foreign minister.

On the foreign ministry’s website, all mention of Mr. Qin, including his biography and the diplomatic events he attended during his seven-month tenure, disappeared on July 26.

The change surprised outside observers, given that reports about Mr. Qin’s predecessors’ work remain on the foreign ministry’s website, sparking more speculation about the missing diplomat’s fate.

In Beijing, reporters have tried to find answers about Mr. Qin’s sudden exit. His name was mentioned about 20 times at the July 26 briefing, according to Bloomberg.

But the authorities remain tight-lipped.

“I have no information to offer,” Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry, told reporters.

As for why Mr. Qin’s tenure disappeared from the ministry’s website, she said, “The website is being updated according to relevant regulations.”

Cao Yaxue, the director of the China human rights watchdog website ChinaChange.org, posted a screenshot of the ministry’s website on July 27, showing that Mr. Qin’s name is missing from the former ministers’ list.

“[Qin Gang] has never existed, ok?” she wrote on Twitter. “Let’s continue to pretend CCP China is a normal country.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning addresses a press conference in Beijing on July 26, 2023. (Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images)

With the erasure of Mr. Qin’s records making headlines in the West, all references to Mr. Qin’s activities reappeared on the ministry’s website on July 28.

But searches for Mr. Qin’s name on the ministry’s website, either in Chinese or English, still produced no results on July 28. His most recent position listed was vice minister.

Kou Chien-wen, a political professor at National Chengchi University in Taiwan, described the website’s response as “unreasonable.”

It’s not supposed to take such a long time to update the foreign ministry’s website because the department’s staff should have been aware of Mr. Qin’s departure before the public, Mr. Kou told The Epoch Times on July 28.

“[The delay] doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

Disappearance

Mr. Qin is still absent from the public view. He was last seen in the media on June 25, when he welcomed visiting diplomats from Russia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.

The ministry previously cited “health reasons” for Mr. Qin’s absence from the gathering of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Indonesia earlier this month.

The official explanation only fueled rumors. Hong Kong and Taiwan media reports suggested the reason may be an extramarital affair with Chinese television anchor Fu Xiaotian.

That speculation was dismissed by political analysts, who said extramarital relationships are often used as a cover for the Party elites to remove opponents. Instead, they pointed to political missteps and power struggles, especially Mr. Wang’s dissatisfaction with Mr. Qin’s work.

Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party of Central Committee Wang Yi (C) attends a meeting with U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry in Beijing on July 18, 2023. (Florence Lo/AFP via Getty Images)

Thirty days after the poorly explained vanishing act, Chinese leader Xi Jinping signed an official order on July 25 removing Mr. Qin from the post of foreign minister.

The decision came only 207 days after Mr. Xi picked the former ambassador to Washington to head the foreign ministry.

Currently, Mr. Qin retains his role as a councilor to the State Council, a cabinet-like administrative authority.

Analysts are not optimistic about Mr. Qin’s political future, but they suggested that his sudden exit is likely to have little effect on the CCP’s foreign policy.

“Qin’s departure will mean little to China’s foreign policy; foreign ministers are career civil servants who carry out decisions made by the party,” Ian Johnson, a senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in an op-ed. “Rather, the key point is that Xi Jinping has suffered yet another embarrassingly public setback, one in a string that calls into question his judgment as he now rules alone at the top of the party.”

On July 28, Mr. Wang delivered the first message since returning to the minister’s post, vowing to “resolutely safeguard the sovereignty, security, development, and interests” of the Chinese regime.

Mr. Wang had served as the foreign minister for nearly a decade before being appointed to the CCP’s Foreign Affairs Commission.

Political professors and experts told The Epoch Times that the return of Mr. Wang, 69, should be interpreted as a transitional arrangement, given that his age has surpassed the informal retirement age of 68 and that he still holds his position with the commission.

Luo Ya and The Associated Press contributed to this report.