Where is China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang? Speculations rise amid affair rumours

China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang's absence from public view for more than three weeks has sparked intense speculation about his whereabouts, once again pointing towards China's secrecy. His last reported engagements were on June 25, following which he disappeared.

The 57-year-old had previously disappeared from public view for eight days over the Lunar New Year Holiday. Aside from the brief comment about his health on July 11, his ministry has declined to offer any further information.

Qin’s final appearance was captured by state media when Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko visited Beijing less than 48 hours after the Wagner mercenary group’s failed rebellion against Moscow. Since then, he has been absent despite major high-profile events being lined up.

Qin Gang was replaced as head of Beijing’s delegation to the ASEAN summit in Indonesia. At that time, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that Qin would not go “due to health reasons” but gave no details.

Meanwhile, a visit by the European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, shelved at the last minute this month, is now not due to happen until the autumn, Reuters reported citing a senior EU official as saying.

It is not clear whether even then Borrell would meet Qin as initially planned, the official said.  

Almost a month since his absence, there is no clarity on his whereabouts even now. The discussion about his absence was apparently censored on the Chinese social media site Weibo. A search for “where is Qin Gang” on the platform returned the message “no results”, The Guardian reported.

Searches for "Qin Gang" on the Baidu search engine have increased 28-fold in the past week to more than 380,000 a day, according to platform data, Reuters reported.

Qin's absence has brought attention to the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which controls the second-largest economy in the world, for its lack of transparency. "Given China’s status and influence in the world, it’s indeed very strange that its foreign minister has not appeared in public for more than 20 days,” said Deng Yuwen, a former editor of a Communist Party newspaper who now lives in the US, told CNN.

Affair with a journalist?

According to The New York Times, rumours about Qin Gang having an affair with a journalist, Fu Xiaotian, might be the reason behind his absence. Responding to these rumours, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on July 17, “I have no understanding of the matter that you’ve raised.”

China’s ruling Communist Party officially bans cadres from having extramarital relationships, and its discipline watchdog often cites affairs when charging senior officials with corruption.

However, former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli still appeared at last year’s leadership congress shortly after a scandal over a purported account of a decade-long affair.

Qin Gang to be replaced?

Some diplomats have even started to speculate on who may replace Qin, with three telling Reuters the ranking vice foreign minister, Ma Zhaoxu could be a candidate.

Ma, 59, who obtained a master's degree from the London School of Economics and has served as ambassador to the United Nations.

However, for now, there is little sign of any immediate clarity.

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