Five weeks before he lost his job, Qin Gang sat across from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Beijing for high-stakes talks. Look for that meeting on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s website now and you will not find it. After Qin was abruptly replaced as foreign minister on Tuesday by his predecessor Wang Yi, his activities in the post were scrubbed from the record.
The ouster was approved by a top body of China’s rubber-stamp legislature. It came after weeks of speculation about Qin, who dropped out of public view in late June. His last public appearance, on June 25, was in meetings with diplomats from Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Russia. Nobody has said where he is, why he was removed or what happens next with his Communist Party membership.
The erasure itself looked patchy. Searches on the ministry site turned up a long list of links to his speeches and meetings, but clicking them led to a blank page saying the content “does not exist or has been deleted.” His old portrait and biography survived on a page of former vice ministers, listing him as a vice minister for Europe, and not as a former foreign minister. By Friday morning, records of his meetings seemed at least partly restored, though sections were marked “under update.”
Questions without answers
Reporters pressed the ministry at its Wednesday briefing. A spokesperson refused to say why Qin had been replaced and said the site was “updated in accordance with the relevant regulations.” On Thursday spokeswoman Mao Ning said Beijing “consistently” opposed “malicious hype” of the matter. Earlier in July, the ministry had blamed “health reasons” when Qin missed a diplomatic gathering. He also skipped a meeting with climate envoy John Kerry, and canceled a proposed meeting with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
When Chinese state media broke the news on Tuesday evening, the censors moved too. Weibo blocked hashtags about Qin’s removal, including at least one that tried to dodge the filter by using the name of a TV show set in the ancient Qin dynasty. Hashtags about Wang’s appointment stayed up, but showed only posts from verified accounts, mostly state media and government agencies.
Qin appears for now to keep his post as state councilor.
What analysts said
Yun Sun, who directs the China Program at the Stimson Center, said the swift replacement “does not reflect well on Xi for sure.” The cause “must be grave,” she added, for Qin to be removed. Bonnie Glaser of the German Marshall Fund called Qin Xi’s protege, and said the episode would reflect badly on him without necessarily threatening his power.
Neil Thomas of the Asia Society Policy Institute said Qin’s removal would reinforce views abroad of the party as “an opaque and unreliable diplomatic partner.” Victor Shih, of the University of California San Diego, noted that Wang’s return passed over a deep bench of candidates, which suggested the leadership was unsure of a good replacement and chose “a pair of steady hands.”
Blinken said Washington would work with “whoever the relevant Chinese counterparts” are. He has known Wang for more than a decade, he said, and expects to work well with him. He also “wished (Qin) well.”
Sources
- China is erasing mention of its former foreign minister. But it still hasn’t said why | CNN
- China erases all traces of former Foreign Minister Qin Gang from official website | International
- China Erases Purged Foreign Minister Qin Gang from Internet
Sources
- China is erasing mention of Qin Gang’s time as foreign minister, but…
- China erases all traces of former Foreign Minister Qin Gang …
