Qin Gang: Where did Foreign Minister Xi Jinping disappear to? – “Wrath” scripts.

China’s foreign minister has not appeared in public for three weeks, raising questions about his whereabouts and whether anything has happened to him.

Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Gang has not been seen in public for three weeks at a time when Beijing has been particularly active diplomatically, raising questions about his prolonged absence, according to CNN.

The 57-year-old Chinese foreign minister is a career diplomat and trusted partner of the country’s leader, Xi Jinping. Chen Gang was promoted to foreign minister in December after a short stint as ambassador to the United States.

As foreign minister, Qin Gang scolded the United States for dropping the spy balloon when relations between the two countries soured.

Nevertheless, China’s foreign minister played a key role in subsequent efforts by both sides to stabilize fragile relations and restore contacts, including a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit to Beijing in mid-June.

His last public appearance

But the senior diplomat has not appeared in public since June 25, after meeting officials from Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Russia in Beijing.

In his last public appearance, Chen Gang is seen walking alongside Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko, who has traveled to Beijing to meet with Chinese officials after the Wagner Group’s short-lived rebellion.

“Considering China’s status and influence in the world, it is really strange that its foreign minister has not appeared in public for more than 20 days,” said Ding Yuwen, a former editor of the Communist Party newspaper who now lives in the United States.

Asked about the Chinese foreign minister’s prolonged absence at a press conference on Monday, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said he “has no information to provide,” adding that China’s diplomatic activities are going on as usual.

Chen Gang’s absence has become more apparent due to a flurry of diplomatic activity in the Chinese capital in recent weeks, including visits by senior US officials Janet Yellen and John Kerry.

Reuters reported, quoting a spokesman for the minister, that the 57-year-old minister was scheduled to meet with European Union foreign policy coordinator Josep Borrell earlier this month in Beijing, but the meeting was postponed after China informed the European Union that the appointments were “not available.” is available.” . from the European Union.

The European Union was informed of the delay just two days before Borrell’s scheduled arrival on July 5, according to Reuters.

Qin Gang also did not appear at the annual meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Indonesia last week. Instead, the chief Chinese diplomat, Wang Yi, attended the meeting in his place.

Deleted for health reasons.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said at a regular briefing last Tuesday that the 57-year-old foreign minister was unable to attend the ASEAN meeting “due to health reasons,” according to Reuters.

However, this response was missing from the official transcript of the briefing that was later posted on the ministry’s website. The Chinese Foreign Ministry often omits content it deems sensitive from the minutes of its regular briefings.

However, the excuse given by the authorities failed to quell a wave of largely unfounded speculation as to why Qin Gang had not been seen for several days.

Ding Yuwen, a US-based analyst, said the rumors are due to a lack of transparency in the Chinese political system, where information is relayed and important decisions are often made behind closed doors.

He noted that “under Xi, this political ambiguity has only increased as he suppresses dissent and centralizes power in his hands.”

This is a problem for totalitarian regimes. Totalitarian regimes are inherently unstable because everything is decided solely by the Supreme Leader.

“If something unusual happens to a senior official, people will wonder if his relationship with the Supreme Leader has deteriorated or if it is a sign of political instability,” Deng said.

It’s not the first time

Senior Chinese officials have hidden from the limelight in the past, only for the ruling Communist Party’s disciplinary body to reveal their detention months later to investigation.

These sudden disappearances have become a regular feature of Xi’s anti-corruption campaign.

Questions are growing about Qin Gang because of his perceived close relationship with Xi, who secured a third term last fall and built a new leadership team full of loyal allies, according to Ding Yuwen.

He claims that Chen Gang only rose through the ranks because of his relationship with Xi Jinping. “Any problems with him affect Xi as well, which sends the message that Xi failed to select the right person for the job,” Ding Yuwen said.