Beijing fires missing foreign minister

Qin Gang missed a number of important diplomatic meetings, including a meeting of Asian foreign ministers in Jakarta. Credit: Thomas Peter/AP

China has officially fired Qin Gang, the foreign minister who disappeared from public view for a month over rumors of an affair with a TV presenter.

Wang has been named as Mr. Qin's successor And, who was also his predecessor, state media reported Tuesday after a meeting of China's top legislature.

Such meetings are not uncommon, although this week's meeting, oddly enough, was convened just a day before .

«China's top legislature has voted to appoint Wang Yi as foreign minister,» state media reported. Xi Jinping signed the presidential decree.

«Qin Gang has been removed from his position as foreign minister,» the report said.

Beijing has not given a reason for the reshuffle and has yet to clarify the whereabouts or status of Mr. Qin, whose rapid rise in the diplomatic ranks China seemed to identify him as Mr. Xi's protégé and confidant.

Mr. Qin, who has been in office since December, made his last public appearance on June 25 in Beijing, where he met with Russian , Sri Lankan and Vietnamese officials.

The 57-year-old has missed several important meetings in recent weeks, sparking a buzz over his whereabouts.

In its only public statement on the case, China's Foreign Ministry said earlier this month that Mr. Wang instead he will attend a meeting of regional foreign ministers in Jakarta. It states that Mr. Qin's absence from the talks was due to unspecified «health reasons.»

Since then, Mr. Qin has been conspicuously absent, even as scores of high-level foreign delegates have come to visit Beijing, including John Kerry, US climate envoy, Henry Kissinger, a seasoned US diplomat, and Taras Kachka, Ukraine's deputy economy minister.< /p>

Travel to China by Foreign Minister James Cleverley and Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief was also delayed due to Mr. Qin's absence.

Rumors have circulated in China highlighting the opacity of the ruling Communist Party (CCP) and how carefully it conceals details of the private lives of high-ranking officials.

Hong Kong and Taiwanese media claimed that Qin was having an affair with Fu Xiaotian, a state television host.

Ms. Fu, who was educated at Cambridge, disappeared from public view along with her son at the same time as Mr. Qin, who was allegedly under official investigation.

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In China, the sudden disappearance of a high-ranking official or business magnate often signals political trouble, indicating a possible power struggle or that the person has fallen out of favor with Beijing for reasons not explicitly stated.

Neil Thomas , a China Policy Fellow at the Asia Society think tank, said there was reason to believe Mr. Qin was being purged and not suffering from ill health.

Mentions of his name, Mr. Thomas noted , were removed from the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which did not happen to the former incumbents of this post.

But other analysts say Mr. Qin is still listed as a member of China's State Council in the English and Chinese versions of his website.

Mr. Xi himself disappeared for about two weeks in 2012 year, just before he became the leader of the CCP — the absence of a government has never been explained.

Since Mr. Xi came to power, many of those who seemingly disappear later are accused of corruption, an all-encompassing accusation used by the Chinese president to weed out dishonest officials and trap political opponents. .

Mr. Xi selected Mr. Qin for this role as part of a campaign to fill the upper echelons of the Communist Party with close confidants at the Party Congress, which is held twice a decade last fall.

< p> He was replaced by Mr. Wang, 69, a professional diplomat who speaks fluent Japanese, who previously served as China's ambassador to Tokyo and head of the office overseeing Taiwan, which China claims as its territory.