A day after the removal of Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang from his post after an unexplained 30-day public absence and only seven months into his stint, the Foreign Ministry has removed all mention of Qin Gang from its online records, purging the former Minister’s name and his meetings with world leaders.
Qin’s six months as Foreign Minister has now disappeared from official records, including his meetings with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in March, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in May, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June.
It follows Chinese President Xi Jinping’s decision to sack Qin from his role on Tuesday night after rumours ranging from illness to an extramarital affair with a high-profile TV presenter, to a power struggle at the top of the Chinese Communist Party, dogged Gang.
Chinese government censors worked fast to remove all information, transcripts, and photos of the former Minister from the foreign ministry website by early Wednesday morning.
Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning in a daily briefing in Beijing refused to provide any information about the reasons behind Qin’s removal. The Foreign Ministry last month said the former Minister missed attending meetings in Jakarta because of health reasons.
Until this, Qin was one of Xi Jinping’s proteges. Xi had promoted him from Foreign Ministry spokesman to a personal aide to US Ambassador and finally to Foreign Minister.
