Xi Jinping’s foreign minister has disappeared from public view.His prolonged absence has sparked intense speculation

Hongkong
CNN
—

China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, has not been seen in public for three weeks, an unusually long absence during a busy period of diplomatic activity in Beijing, sparking intense speculation in a country notoriously politically opaque.

Qin, 57, a career diplomat and trusted aide to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, was promoted to foreign minister in December after a brief stint as ambassador to the United States.

As foreign minister, Qin delivered a scathing rebuke to Washington after relations between the two countries hit a new low after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down over the United States.

He also played a key role in both sides’ subsequent efforts to stabilize volatile relations and restore communication, including a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken during a visit to Beijing in mid-June.

But the high-profile diplomat has not been seen in public since June 25. meet with officials from Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Russia in Beijing.

In his last public appearance, a smiling Qin seen He was traveling alongside Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko, who flew to Beijing to meet Chinese officials after a brief riot organized by Russia’s Wagner mercenaries.

Deng Yuwen, a former editor of a CCP newspaper who now lives in the United States, said that considering China’s status and influence in the world, it is indeed strange that its foreign minister has not appeared in public for more than 20 days.

Asked about Qin’s prolonged absence from Monday’s news conference, a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said she had no information to provide, adding that China’s diplomatic activities were going on as usual.

A flurry of diplomatic activity in the Chinese capital in recent weeks, including high-profile visits by top U.S. officials Janet Yellen and John Kerry, has made Qin’s absence all the more notable.

Qin was supposed to meet EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Beijing earlier this month, but the meeting was postponed after China informed the EU that a meeting was no longer possible, Reuters quoted an EU spokesman as saying.

The EU was informed of the delay just two days before Borrells was due to arrive on July 5, according to Reuters.

Qin also failed to attend last week’s annual meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Indonesia. Instead, Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, attended the gathering in his place.

A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry said at a regular news briefing last Tuesday that Qin was unable to attend the ASEAN meeting due to health reasons, Reuters reported.

However, there was no official response in the briefing. transcript It was subsequently published on the ministry’s website. China’s foreign ministry often omits what it deems sensitive from the records of its regular briefings.

However, the brief health reasons cited by authorities have failed to quell speculation about why Qin has not shown up, which have been largely unsubstantiated.

Deng, a U.S.-based analyst, said the rumors were fueled by a lack of transparency in China’s political system, where information is closely guarded and important decisions are mostly made behind closed doors.

Under Mr. Xi, this political opacity will only intensify as he suppresses dissent and concentrates power in his own hands.

This is the problem facing totalitarian regimes. Totalitarian regimes are inherently unstable because everything is decided by the supreme leader alone, he said.

If anything unusual happens to senior officials, people will wonder if their relationship with the top leader has deteriorated or if it is a sign of political instability, Deng said.

Senior Chinese officials have disappeared from public view in the past, only months after the ruling Communist Party’s disciplinary agency revealed they had been detained for investigation. Such sudden disappearances have become a regular feature of Mr. Xi’s anti-corruption campaign.

Deng Xiaoping said that Qin’s absence was closely related to Xi Jinping, which exacerbated the sensitivity of Qin’s absence. Last fall, Mr. Xi served a third term in office, defying convention with a new leadership team of loyal allies.

Qin Gang was brought up by Xi Jinping. Deng said any of his questions would reflect badly on Xi, which meant Xi hadn’t chosen the right person.