[ad_1]
The episode “is embarrassing and unsettling to Chinese diplomats because of the uncertainty it injects in a system that is tightly controlled,” said Daniel R. Russel, a former senior American diplomat now at the Asia Society Policy Institute. “For foreign diplomats it raises even more questions about the bureaucratic weight of China’s foreign ministry.”
Secrecy around the personal lives and health of senior officials is ingrained in the Chinese Communist Party. In one of the more notable, and still unexplained, absences in recent times, Xi abruptly disappeared from public view for two weeks shortly before taking power in 2012, missing a meeting with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
It remains quite plausible that Qin fell ill and is recovering. Even so, the episode would be a telling example of how the party’s aversion to sharing bad news can undermine its efforts to control the narrative.
“Secrecy is the chosen mode of operation because for the Chinese Communist Party, information is a weapon,” said Willy Wo-Lap Lam, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a research institute in Washington.
“But in this case, the mystery surrounding such an important official — foreign minister — is mind-boggling,” he said.
Loading
Should it turn out that Qin somehow ran afoul of the Communist Party’s leadership, it could also reflect poorly on Xi, who has used his dominance to fast-track the rise of Qin and a cohort of other loyalist officials, Lam said.
“Qin Gang was an official who, we like to say, took a helicopter ride to the top,” Lam said.
Qin was appointed China’s ambassador to Washington in July 2021, and after only 17 months was promoted to foreign minister, a rapid ascent that marked him out as one of Xi’s trusted lieutenants.
Before that, Qin served as a foreign ministry spokesperson — known for his acerbic barbs — and as a senior protocol officer who organised Chinese leaders’ trips abroad, a role that gave Qin a chance to work closely with Xi.
As foreign minister, Qin has been responsible for implementing the Chinese leader’s vision of Beijing as an increasingly confident global power. In June, he met for five and a half hours with Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the US official’s visit to Beijing, as the two nations sought to ease tensions.
Then Qin skipped the Southeast Asian meeting last week, with China sending Wang Yi, an official who ranks above Qin in the party hierarchy, in his place.
As questions have mounted over Qin’s extended absence, overseas Chinese commentators have offered theories that an affair with a television personality might be behind his problems, and the speculation has become big news in Taiwan.
Asked about the rumours on Monday, Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said: “I have no understanding of the matter that you’ve raised.”
Despite Beijing’s reticence, speculation is also spreading among Chinese officials, said Deng Yuwen, a former editor for a Communist Party newspaper who is now a current affairs commentator in the United States. Those officials will be watching to see if Qin reemerges or if Beijing gives more details about him, Deng said.
“Even if he has a health problem, they could find some way to bring him back out, but they haven’t yet,” Deng said. “If the outside world is speculating about Qin Gang, then naturally a lot of people inside the system are wondering too.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.
[ad_2]
Source link