Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has been missing from the public eye for more than three weeks, despite the ministry being in the midst of a flurry of high-profile diplomatic efforts to repair ties with the US.
The Disappearance
As a former ambassador to Washington DC, Qin was expected to play a key role in several recent high-level visits by US officials.
However, the diplomat’s last public appearance was a meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart in Beijing on 25 June. Qin was not part of the Chinese delegation during US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to the country in early July. he is also noticed to be missing during the ongoing visit by US climate envoy John Kerry.
Last week, Qin did not lead China’s delegation to the ASEAN summit in Indonesia. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at the time that Qin would not go “due to health reasons” but gave no details.
Subsequent Censorship
Qin Gang is missing. Not only is he missing from the news cycle in China, but he's missing from my article! As run by the SCMP on July 15, five sentences about Qin were removed (without notice) from the article after it was accepted for publication. https://t.co/YAoWhLtiRa pic.twitter.com/gN6prwKJ93
— Phil Cunningham (@jinpeili) July 17, 2023
Discussion about his absence has been further spurred by internet censorship on the Chinese social media site Weibo. A search for “where is Qin Gang” on the platform returned the message “no results.” In fact, very few other discussions were visible under the diplomat’s name.
Along similar lines, journalist Phil Cunningham said that five sentences about Qin were deleted without notice from an article he wrote on US-China relations for the pro-Beijing Hong Kong paper, the South China Morning Post.
The paragraphs discussed the unfortunate timing for a former US ambassador to disappear from the political arena and questioned whether it was really due to health issues or due to “political disfavour.”
The secrecy surrounding the country’s political system makes it hard to confirm the cause of sudden disappearances by senior officials.
However, not all public breaks affect political careers. Chinese President Xi Jinping himself vanished from the public eye for two weeks shortly before being appointed as the Asian giant’s top leader in 2012. The Chinese media has never explained the brief absence.