BEIJING: China removed Foreign Minister Qin Gang from his post on Tuesday (Jul 25) after a one-month absence from public duties, replacing him with his predecessor Wang Yi, state media said, after weeks of speculation about what had happened to him.
“China’s top legislature voted to appoint Wang Yi as foreign minister … as it convened a session on Tuesday,” state media outlet Xinhua said.
The report did not give a reason for Qin’s removal but said President Xi Jinping signed a presidential order to enact the decision.
The meeting, convened by the National People’s Congress, was announced with just one day’s notice, a move noted by CNA’s Shanghai correspondent Low Minmin as “quite unusual”.
Such meetings are usually made known at least seven days prior, she said, adding that Tuesday’s event lasted just one day instead of the typical three to four.
Analysts say this suggests that it was an emergency meeting convened to discuss Qin’s fate.
Asked repeatedly about Qin earlier on Tuesday, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told journalists that she had “no information” to offer and insisted that “China’s diplomatic activities are steadily moving forward”.
Qin, 57, had been seen as a confidant of Xi and many analysts attributed his recent fast rise through the diplomatic ranks to their relationship.
He became one of China’s youngest foreign ministers when he took up the post in December after a brief stint as envoy to the United States.
Qin had not been seen in public since Jun 25.
After he missed a high-level ASEAN summit in Indonesia, his ministry later said he was off work for unspecified health reasons.
But the lack of detailed information fuelled a swirl of speculation, including that he had fallen from grace. Some rumours online claimed Qin was under official investigation for an alleged affair with a prominent television anchor.
China’s tight-lipped stance also deepened suspicion about transparency and decision-making among the country’s cloistered leadership, analysts and diplomats said.
On Tuesday analysts urged caution about jumping to conclusions.
“He keeps his more senior position as a state councillor,” tweeted Neil Thomas from the Asia Society Policy Institute, a US think tank. “So not 100 per cent sure this is a purge.”
Manoj Kewalramani, a China expert at the Takshashila Institution in Bengaluru in India, told AFP that Qin keeping the State Council role “could be a product of his proximity to Xi Jinping”.
Qin’s duties had lately been taken on by China’s top diplomat Wang, who leads the ruling Communist Party’s foreign policy and outranks Qin in the government hierarchy. Wang was this week representing China at a national security advisers’ meeting of BRICS countries in Johannesburg, South Africa.
“Rather than bring in someone new, you’ve got Wang Yi,” said Kewalramani. “So you have somebody who’s experienced… and can continue at least for the near future in that role.”
Thomas noted that, because Wang now had two jobs, the situation “could be a temporary arrangement”.
“Wang Yi is a veteran of China’s diplomacy, and he is greatly trusted by the whole country,” tweeted Hu Xijin, a prominent commentator with the Global Times state tabloid.
Both Qin’s removal and Wang’s appointment were trending on social media platform Weibo on Tuesday evening.
Qin’s absence over the past month had left a vacuum at the top of China’s foreign ministry.
A visit to Beijing by the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was abruptly called off this month.
And Bloomberg reported on Friday that a visit by UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was also postponed due to Qin’s situation.
Wang, 69, now retakes the role he held between 2018 and 2022.
State media did not report why Qin was removed from office and China’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
“The lack of an explanation opens more questions than provides answers,” said Chong Ja Ian, associate professor of political science at National University of Singapore.
“Developments surrounding Qin suggests that no one is indispensable. It also underscores the opacity and unpredictability, even arbitrariness in the current political system.”
It comes amid a flurry of international engagements and frayed ties with rival superpower the United States, which Beijing has described as at their lowest point since the establishment of diplomatic relations.
The world’s two biggest economies are at odds over issues including Ukraine and Beijing’s close ties to Moscow, trade and technology disputes and Taiwan, the democratic, self-ruled island which Beijing claims as its own.
“I think the main point here is China wants to avoid the embarrassment of continuously having Wang Yi appearing at these foreign minister level meetings without having the appropriate titles,” said Wen-Ti Sung, a political scientist at the Australian National University.