Missing for a month: Where is China’s foreign minister?

BEIJING—China’s Foreign Minister

Qin Gang has not been seen in public for almost a month, sparking a flurry of questions over his whereabouts.

Here’s what we know so far about the disappearance of one of China’s most senior diplomats:

Qin, considered a confidante of President Xi Jinping, was appointed foreign minister in December 2022.

The 57-year-old spent several years at the Chinese embassy in London and is a fluent English speaker.

Qin earned a reputation as a “Wolf Warrior,” a nickname given to a new generation of Chinese diplomats who push back with often inflammatory rhetoric against Western criticism of Beijing.

He said in 2020 the image of China in the West had deteriorated because Europeans and Americans—in particular the media—had never accepted the Chinese political system or its economic rise.

While serving as ambassador to the

United States, Qin stepped up his visibility through public and media appearances in Washington in which he explained the Chinese position.

Following his appointment as minister, he kept up a busy schedule, visiting Africa, Europe and Central Asia as well as hosting foreign dignitaries in Beijing.

Qin has not been seen in public since June 25, when he met with Russia’s deputy foreign minister Andrey Rudenko in Beijing.

But it was his absence from a highlevel ASEAN summit in Indonesia two weeks later that first raised eyebrows.

China’s foreign ministry said “health reasons” were to blame for Qin’s absence.

But that has done little to stem an explosion of rumors online.

“Everyone is concerned about something but cannot discuss it publicly,”

Hu Xijin, a prominent commentator with the state tabloid Global Times, said in a post on Weibo. AFP