China removes ‘missing’ Foreign Minister Qin Kang, Wang Yi will take his place

China on Tuesday sacked Foreign Minister Qin Kang and re-appointed senior leader Wang Yi to the post. The appointment marked the end of a rare development involving a close confidante of President Xi Jinping in the hardline Communist country. Chin has not been seen in public for almost a month. Amidst much speculation about Chin, China’s nominal parliament approved the decision to remove him. Chin, 57, was made foreign minister in December last year bypassing several senior leaders and was seen as a rising star in the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC). He was one of the youngest persons appointed to this position in the history of China.

Xi named Chin as China’s ambassador to the United States in a bid to stabilize Beijing’s strained relations with Washington before appointing Chin as foreign minister. No reason has been given for Chhin’s sudden removal. Chin has not been seen in public since meeting officials from Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Russia on June 25. China’s parliament reappointed Chin’s predecessor Wang, who was promoted to director of the CPC’s Foreign Affairs Commission in January. China’s parliament voted to appoint Wang, 69, as foreign minister and sacked Qin, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The news said that President Xi, who is also the general secretary of the CPC, signed the order.

Wang served as foreign minister from 2013 to 2022. In the Chinese political hierarchy, the foreign minister ranks well below the director of the CPC’s Foreign Affairs Commission. Wang was also promoted to the rank of State Councillor, the highest political post of the CPC. Chhin’s disappearance from the public eye and his absence from meetings led to speculation that he was not well. Later, apart from being involved in corruption cases, rumors of her alleged affair with a Chinese journalist working for Hong Kong’s ‘Phoenix TV’ also spread. The Chinese Foreign Ministry continued to deflect questions from journalists about Chin’s absence and whereabouts. There was a lot of speculation in Beijing on Monday after it was announced that the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s parliament, would hold an emergency session on Tuesday to appoint and remove an official.

The announcement of the NPC session on Tuesday came after a high-level meeting chaired by President Xi. Qin’s ouster is seen as a major blow and embarrassment for Xi, who has emerged as the most powerful leader since CPC founder Mao Zedong. During his brief tenure as foreign minister, Chin met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar twice to ease the strained bilateral ties due to the standoff in eastern Ladakh. Interestingly, Wang met National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on the sidelines of the meeting of NSAs of BRICS countries in Johannesburg on Monday. During the meeting, Doval stressed the need to continue efforts to restore peace and tranquility in the border areas so as to remove ‘obstacles’ to normalization of bilateral relations.

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