Chinese Foreign Minister Wolf Warrior Sick to Miss ASEAN Summit | News

Wang Yi, a former foreign minister, will take his place at the top in Indonesia, a ministry spokesman said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang is ill and a senior diplomat will take his place at a two-day Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit this week in Jakarta, Indonesia, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin gave no details about the illness of Qin, who has not been seen in public for more than two weeks. Yet it is rare for China to even admit that a senior leader is not feeling well.

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang is unable to attend this round of foreign ministers’ meetings due to health reasons, Wang told a daily press briefing. .

Wang Yi, a former foreign minister and current head of the ruling Communist Party’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission, will represent China at the meetings on Thursday and Friday, spokesman Wang said.

Wang Yi sparked controversy last week with comments saying Westerners are unable to distinguish between Chinese, Koreans and Japanese, and suggesting that the three countries with vastly different societies and policies form an alliance based on racial and cultural similarities. Wang will attend the China-ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the ASEAN-China-Japan-South Korea Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, and the East and the ASEAN Regional Forum Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

China has sought to engage the 10 ASEAN members, primarily through trade, as part of a campaign to dilute US influence in the region and challenge the state-led liberal world order. -United.

However, China’s influence has been limited by its aggressive assertion of its claim to nearly all of the South China Sea. ASEAN members Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines have overlapping claims and have widely welcomed the US military presence in the region. China denounces the US involvement as outside interference.

The foreign ministers’ meeting is a platform to enhance mutual trust and cooperation, Wang Wenbin told reporters. China hopes the meeting will help build consensus, prepare politically for a successful ASEAN Leaders’ Summit in September, and promote regional peace, stability and prosperity.

Qin, 57, rose to prominence as an outspoken ministry spokesperson who popularized an aggressive style in your face that became known as wolf warrior diplomacy, named after a franchise Chinese nationalist films. He previously served as ambassador to Washington and the department’s chief of protocol.

In March, Qin warned Washington of conflict and confrontation, adopting a combative tone amid disputes over Taiwan, COVID-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This followed an accusation by President Xi Jinping that US-led Western governments wanted to surround and suppress China.

According to the Foreign Ministry website, Qin’s last public appearance was during a meeting with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry in Beijing on June 25.

The wolf warrior approach was adopted by many high-ranking Chinese diplomats, but also sometimes fell out of favor. One of its most famous representatives, former ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, was transferred in January to a department overseeing land and sea borders in what was widely seen as a downgrade.

China’s ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, has struck a generally optimistic tone since taking office in May, despite relations between the world’s two largest economies hitting an all-time low.

China’s tightly controlled and highly opaque political system and lack of a free press frequently give way to speculation about the disappearance of high-profile figures, such as when former Chinese President Hu Jintao was guided out of the unexplained scene at the Communist Party’s twice-a-decade congress.

However, while personal rivalries and corruption-related scandals are not uncommon, the party, at least on the surface, remains largely united behind Xi.