Qin Gang, who was China's youngest foreign minister in half a century and was regarded as a rising political star hand-picked by Xi Jinping, was suddenly dismissed on Tuesday (July 25) and was replaced by former Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
China's state-run media CCTV announced the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on its "News Network" in the evening. This is an unusual scene in China's high-level politics in recent years.
A month ago, Qin Gang disappeared from public view after attending a diplomatic event for the last time. Officials initially said he was experiencing health issues but have since declined to answer any details.
Although there is a lack of transparency in the appointment and dismissal of senior officials in Chinese politics, Qin Gang suddenly resigned just over half a year after taking office. His fate became a "big news" discussed by many people, triggering widespread speculation on social media.
Extensive discussion
An index from Chinese search engine Baidu shows that the number of searches for "Qin Gang" in the past 30 days has increased 17 times compared to the previous period.
Many netizens were surprised by Qin Gang's sudden dismissal. One netizen left a message saying: "It's very sad. Why is this happening? Don't know what happened. But there is always a reason for being exempted. ”
On Weibo, #Qin Gang was dismissed from his position as foreign minister# once became a hot topic, and among the popular search terms about him on Weibo, the top few items were about his so-called "mistress" and "treason" Rumors.
Previously, rumors that Qin Gang had an affair with a female TV anchor were widely circulated on social media. This female host is usually very active on social media, but she suddenly disappeared.
Some people firmly believe that he did suffer from what the official said was health problems and was unable to perform his duties due to some serious illness. Others speculated whether he was involved in some kind of political struggle and subsequently "fell out of favor."
"He definitely has political problems, but he just doesn't want to make them public." It is safer to let Wang be the foreign minister. ”A Weibo netizen speculated.
The BBC could not independently confirm the rumors, but Zhuang Jiaying, an associate professor at the Department of Politics at the National University of Singapore, told the BBC last week that it was highly unusual for rumors about the senior official to be discussed on the Chinese Internet without being fully censored.
“The lack of censorship casts doubt on whether rumors of power struggles, corruption, abuse of power or romances are true. ”
In sharp contrast, in 2021, former Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai accused former Chinese Vice Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli of having an affair and forced sexual relationship with her on Weibo. The news was quickly blocked by the entire network, and many mentioned it. The account involved in the incident was banned.
Relevant news was deleted from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website
image copyrightREUTERS
Another sign fueled speculation about whether he could achieve a "soft landing." After the official announcement that Qin Gang had been removed from his post as foreign minister, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website deleted all reports related to Qin Gang within a few hours, while information about other outgoing ministers was retained.
When you enter "Qin Gang" in the search bar on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, the reply displayed is: "I'm sorry!" No data related to "Qin Gang" could be found. ”
Only a few hours before the National People's Congress Standing Committee announced its decision, there were hundreds of news about him on the website.
Ian Johnson, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the Qin Gang incident has exacerbated "a series of very public problems" that Xi Jinping has faced in the past 12 months.
Zhang Yan said the National People's Congress may announce a new candidate for foreign minister in March next year. "This will give them time to scrutinize everyone more carefully ... before putting another person in power," he said. ”
"Wang Yi had previously held the position of (foreign minister) and he was apparently a fire fighter or caretaker sent to correct the course so that China's foreign policy could continue smoothly." ”Mr. Zhang Yan said.
However, some people have noticed that although the authorities announced that Qin Gang was removed from the post of Foreign Minister, his title of State Councilor seemed to be retained, which triggered different views among analysts.
In Chinese politics, the State Councilor is a title under the State Council system with the same administrative level as the Deputy Prime Minister, and is higher than the Minister.
Moritz Rudolf, a researcher at Yale Law School in the United States, said on social media Twitter that Qin Gang's retention of the position of State Councilor seems to indicate that he has not been purged, but does have some kind of health problem .
Song Wendi, a political scientist at the Australian National University, analyzed for the Guardian that allowing Qin Gang to stay in the State Council means that he still gets some political protection: "(This) may be a signal that Qin Gang's career may be over, but He is not dead politically. ”
In contrast, the death of Yang Jing, also a State Councilor, in his political career five years ago sent a clearer signal. The then-Secretary-General of the State Council was declared a "serious disciplinary violation" and was given one-year probation and administrative dismissal from his post, which was downgraded to a ministerial-level punishment. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress immediately decided to remove him as State Councilor and Secretary of the State Council at the same time. long position.
It is worth noting that the meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress was suddenly announced the day before, which is also different from the usual arrangement. The NPC Standing Committee meets approximately every two months to review legislation and reports. After the last meeting in June, the next meeting was originally expected to be held in August.
In the past few years, the anti-corruption campaign led by Xi Jinping has "dropped" a large number of high-level officials. However, the lack of transparency of the campaign has been criticized. Many analysts describe it as "black box politics" and believe that this has intensified the influence of the Chinese elite. The mystique of politics.
Another example is that the authorities announced on Monday (July 24) that Lieutenant General Wang Shaojun, the former director of the Security Bureau of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, who was responsible for protecting the safety of Chinese leaders, had died three months ago. Authorities gave no explanation for the delay in announcing his death.
Promotion and fall
Qin Gang, 57, has served in China's diplomatic system for more than 30 years and was well known as a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in his early years. He has repeatedly responded sharply to Western doubts about China, and has been called a "Wolf Warrior" by some.
When he served as Director of the Protocol Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was regarded as a trusted assistant to Xi Jinping and accompanied Xi Jinping on many foreign visits.
Recently, Pavel Slunkin, a Belarusian diplomat who participated in arranging Xi Jinping’s state visit to Belarus in 2015, recalled that during Xi Jinping’s visit to Belarus, Qin Gang called at around 2 a.m. and asked for immediate help. Go to a museum that Xi Jinping will visit to double-check every detail of the itinerary, even the music that plays when Xi Jinping walks up a certain step.
This seems to have propelled him to success in his official career. From 2021 to 2022, he was sent to Washington to serve as ambassador to the United States. During this period, his style became relatively soft in an attempt to ease tensions between China and the United States.
Immediately afterwards, he was promoted in a "rocket style" and was promoted to Minister of Foreign Affairs at the end of 2022. In March this year, he was promoted to concurrently serve as State Councilor.
Daniel Russel of the Asia Society Policy Institute said that Qin Gang's fall was as unexpected and unprepared as his promotion.
“Since both actions came from Chinese leaders, this incident will be seen as an embarrassing oversight at the top. ”He said.
