Global Courant
Qin Gang, China’s foreign minister, speaks while holding a copy of the constitution at a press conference in Beijing, China, on Tuesday, March 7, 2023.
Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
China removed Foreign Minister Qin Gang from his post after a month’s absence from public duties on Tuesday, replacing him with his predecessor Wang Yi, state media said, after weeks of speculation about what had happened to him.
Qin, 57, who only took office in December after a brief stint as an envoy to the United States, had not been seen in public since June 25 when he met with diplomats in Beijing.
After missing an international diplomatic summit in Indonesia, his ministry later said he was unable to work for unspecified health reasons, but the lack of detailed information sparked a swirl of speculation.
It also deepened distrust of transparency and decision-making among the country’s isolated leaders, analysts and diplomats said.
Wang, 69, who filled in for Qin in his absence, will reprise the role he held between 2018 and 2022.
China’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the reasons behind the switch.
It comes amid a flurry of international deals and frayed ties with rival superpower the United States, which Beijing has described as the lowest point since establishing diplomatic relations.
The world’s two largest economies disagree over issues such as Ukraine’s and Beijing’s close ties to Moscow, trade and technology disputes, and Taiwan, the democratic, self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own.
