Qin Gang was appointed for the post of Foreign Minister almost seven months ago but Qin Gang was removed from office on Tuesday and “China’s top legislature voted to appoint Wang Yi as foreign minister,” state news agency Xinhua said.
Qin Gang ,the 57-year-old’s last known public engagements were on 25 June. No reason was given for his removal.He had been appointed by China’s leader to his post last December. His departure ends weeks of confusion, but leaves many questions unanswered.
Questions about his whereabouts began to intensify this month when he did not attend the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations gathering of foreign ministers in Indonesia.
Qin Gang was one of the best-known faces of the Chinese government. His prolonged absence was scrutinised not only by diplomats and China watchers, but also ordinary Chinese people. Also, Qin, was one of China’s youngest foreign minister but vanished from state media and comments about him have been excised from readouts of foreign ministry briefings.
Mr Qin had been seen as a close associate of President Xi Jinping. The role will be taken up by Communist Party foreign affairs chief Wang Yi.
The foreign ministry has provided no information about Mr Qin’s status, in keeping with the ruling Communist Party’s standard approach to personnel matters.
When he disappeared from his normal duties a month ago and failed to attend a summit in Indonesia, the very brief official explanation given was unspecified health problems. But the question is ” is this explanation really true?” – As, The lack of any detail from his ministry led to speculation that he was being punished either for political reasons or because of an extra-marital affair.
The absence of censorship makes people wonder if there is any truth to rumours about power struggles, corruption, the abuse of power and positions, and romantic relationships.
The ministry has since then avoided answering repeated questions about his status, saying only that China’s diplomacy is progressing steadily.
Before that, he had been a foreign ministry spokesman and had helped organise Mr Xi’s trips overseas – which gave him the opportunity to work closely with China’s leader.
There has been huge interest in China in what happened to Qin Gang. The country’s biggest search engine, Baidu, has seen a huge surge in searches for his name recently.
It is unusual for rumours about such a senior official to be discussed on the Chinese internet without complete censorship, observers say.
The absence of censorship makes people wonder if there is any truth to rumours about power struggles, corruption, the abuse of power and positions, and romantic relationships.
Also, the Eurasia Group, a consulting firm based in New York, said in a note ahead of Mr Qin’s removal said: “Qin’s disappearance has curtailed China’s diplomatic activity over the last month but will have little impact on the country’s foreign policy or present meaningful reputational risks for Xi.”
The appointment of Mr Wang was approved at a meeting of the standing committee of China’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress, which usually gathers at the end of the month.
Mr Wang previously served as China’s top diplomat in his capacity as head of the party’s office of foreign affairs.
Being the world’s second-most populous country with a population exceeding 1.4 billion. China spans the equivalent of five time zones. The features of China states that it is one of the very big and powerful country in Asia with the outstanding guidance of the Government. But the silence of the Chinese government regarding the sudden change in the foreign ministry is good for the political status and relation of other countries with China?