Amid heavy diplomatic traffic, China’s top diplomat still off public

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Beijing has remained abuzz with heavy diplomatic traffic since early this year with many heads of government and state visiting China.

President Xi Jinping personally received many former and current foreign officials, with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger latest on the list.

However, since last month, China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang is off public with little known about his current status.

When Semafor.com’s Steve Clemons on Wednesday pressed China’s top diplomat in Washington at an event in the US about the whereabouts of Qin, Ambassador Xie Feng referred to the statement of China’s Foreign Ministry.

The ministry had said that China’s foreign affairs chief Wang Yi will represent Beijing at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Indonesia last week.

Qin, the ministry added, was unavailable because of “health issues.” There has been no more explanation by Beijing about Qin, so far.

Qin, 57, of Han ethnicity, is a native of Huailai, in Hebei province. He is married with a son.

Known to be close to Xi, Qin was appointed as China’s foreign minister, and succeeded Wang, last December.

A graduate in international politics from the University of International Relations, he joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in November 1986 and began his first job at China’s Foreign Ministry two years later.

He is also a member of the 20th CPC Central Committee with the rank of a state councilor.

Is there “any chance he (Henry Kissinger) met Qin Gang (in Beijing), the foreign minister,” Clemons asked Xie.

“Let’s wait and see,” replied Xie, who succeeded Qin as China’s ambassador to the US.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Qin was last seen in public on June 25 when he hosted counterparts from Sri Lanka and Vietnam, Mohamed Uvais Mohamed Ali Sabry and Bui Thanh Son.

The same day, Qin hosted Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, who flew to Beijing soon after paramilitary Wagnar group’s Yevgeny Prigozhin spearheaded a resurrection inside the country amid war with Ukraine, only to be called off later.

Amid Qin’s absence, Beijing also canceled the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell’s trip to China.

There is no mention of any other activity by Qin in the past 25 days.

China observer and analyst, Einar Tangen, however, feels Qin’s absence does not change China's foreign policy.

“China's diplomacy, contrary to the media hype, is driven by game theory, think tank analysis, and strategic alignment with its economic and political objectives, not personality,” Einar told Anadolu from Beijing.

“So, who the foreign (minister) is, matters less than the country’s objectives and policies.

“The most a minister can add, assuming they are competent, is the ability to accurately read situations and their personal style,” said Einar, a senior fellow at Taihe Institute.

Before being elevated as China’s top diplomat, Qin served in important positions, including the chief of the protocol department and a spokesman for the foreign ministry.

A pioneer of the so-called “wolf warrior,” Qin is the youngest member of China's State Council, the de facto Cabinet.