The Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi will be sworn in as the Chinese foreign minister, replacing his successor Qin Gang, in an unexpected restructuring among government officials.
The news comes after Qin Gang's sudden disappearance from the media who was appointed last December as a top diplomat of the country after serving as a Chinese ambassador to the US.
Amid his disappearance from the media, he ended up missing many official and high-profile engagements, such as one of the most recent and important meetings between the foreign ministers of ASEAN.
While serving as ambassador to the US, Qin stepped up his visibility through public and media appearances in Washington, where he explained the Chinese position.
He kept up a busy schedule after being appointed minister, visiting Africa, Europe, and Central Asia and hosting foreign dignitaries in Beijing.
Qin’s absence has left a vacuum at the top of China’s foreign ministry.
A visit by the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to Beijing was abruptly called off this month.
Bloomberg reported Friday that a visit by UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was postponed due to Qin’s absence.
Meanwhile, Qin's responsibilities were taken over by top foreign policy official Wang Yi — who outranked Qin in China’s political hierarchy — who will be travelling to Africa this week to attend a BRICS meeting on security affairs in Johannesburg.
Beijing insisted Monday that "China’s diplomatic activities are moving forward steadily".
Asked about Qin’s now almost month-long absence, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told journalists: "I have no information to offer."
Qin has not been seen in public since June 25, when he met Russia’s deputy foreign minister Andrey Rudenko in Beijing.
But it was his absence from a high-level ASEAN summit in Indonesia two weeks later that first raised concerns about him.
China’s foreign ministry said "health reasons" were to blame for Qin’s absence. But that has done little to convince.
"Everyone is concerned about something but cannot discuss it publicly," Hu Xijin, a prominent commentator with the Global Times, said in a post on Weibo.
"A balance needs to be struck between maintaining the situation and respecting the public´s right to know," he said.
The foreign ministry has since deflected further questions about Qin's absence.
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