Where is China’s missing foreign minister Qin Gang?

China’s foreign minister Qin Gang has not been seen in public for three weeks, leading to speculation about his whereabouts and wellbeing.

Qin, described as China’s “wolf warrior” for his hawkish views, according to The Independent, was last seen on 25 June when visiting officials from Sri Lanka, Russia and Vietnam. During this time there have been persistent “rumours of his extramarital affair with a TV presenter”, said the paper.

Qin, who is a “career diplomat and trusted aide” of president Xi Jinping, has been absent at diplomatic meetings and events such as a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) trading bloc.

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He’s “one of the most powerful diplomats in China” and is known for his “aggressive style of diplomacy”, said Quartz. He was promoted in December after serving briefly as ambassador to the US and has also been ambassador to Britain.

Qin has delivered “searing rebukes of Washington” when tensions heightened after the US shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon, reported CNN. He also played a role in efforts to restore communication with the White House, including meeting US secretary of state Antony Blinken last month.

What did the papers say?

Qin’s “unusually long absence” has led to claims he’s “fallen foul of the leadership”, said The Times.

A scheduled meeting with the EU’s most senior diplomat, Josep Borrell, was apparently cancelled without reason on 4 July, and he was not seen when Janet Yellen, US secretary of the treasury, visited Beijing between 6 and 9 July. A foreign ministry spokesperson then cited “health reasons” for his absence from the ASEAN summit.

Qin’s disappearance coincides with the absence of another high-profile figure: Fu Xiaotian, “Hong Kong’s most prominent” TV presenter and interviewer, and her baby son, reported The Times.

Born in mainland China, Fu graduated from the universities of Beijing and Cambridge before starting her career with the state-owned broadcaster Phoenix Television in 2009. Known for her “Talk with World Leaders” series, Fu is “high-powered and well-connected”, added Asia Sentinel.

“There is no concrete evidence” for the alleged affair, said Quartz, and it may be true that Qin is sick. But local media has been rife with reports linking Qin and Fu’s respective disappearances.

One Twitter user shared a clip of Fu interviewing Qin in March 2022, and pointed out “what he described as the ‘affectionate flirting’ between them”, said The Times. Fu “may have violated the Chinese Ministry of State’s Security regulations”, he said.

Fu’s social media activity has also fuelled speculation, with her last public post including a luxury jet, a screenshot of her interview with Qin, and a selfie with herself and her baby son.

What next?

It’s “not unheard of” for Chinese officials to “disappear without warning” only to return to the public eye just weeks later, said Quartz. Qin’s disappearance is “not itself a rarity in the opaque world” of Chinese politics, agreed The Times. Last year, for instance, Xi “was out of public view for weeks”, which promoted “speculation of a coup”.

Qin’s absence may also be explained by “a deterioration in relations with the West”, of which Qin is the face, at a time when China is attempting to attract foreign investment, said Alfred Wu, an expert on Chinese politics at the National University of Singapore.