China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang is 47 years old. He is married and has one child with his spouse. He is the foreign minister who “took a helicopter” to the high-profile position. Qin went from being a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to a bag carrier, and then he became China’s ambassador to the United States in 2021. He was there for only 17 months before becoming foreign minister. Now the whole world is wondering where he has gone. The alleged scandal receives wide coverage at home and abroad. Here is the program “Critical moment” on the Taiwanese TV station Dongsen News which deals with the case. Photo: Screenshot Youtube – No comment Despite being the face of China to the outside world, Qin Gang has shone with his absence for three weeks. A meeting with the EU foreign minister was cancelled, for no known reason. A week ago he should have been in Indonesia, at a meeting with leaders of Southeast Asian countries. The Chinese Foreign Ministry then announced that Qin was not going to stand, due to health. If it were so simple that he is sick, a picture of him in the hospital bed, or resting in an armchair, could have put an end to the rumours. Instead, the answer to questions about where he is, why he is not at work and when he will return is: “No comment”. Or as one of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ spokespersons, according to the BBC, put it: – I have no information about what you are asking about. China’s foreign minister answered spontaneous questions from news after a meeting with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, in Oslo, 12 May 2023. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB Censorship His mysterious disappearance has caused rumors to abound. Interest in Qin Gang is said to have increased by 8,000 percent in one week on the Chinese search engine Baidu. The usually very hard-hitting censorship has apparently taken a break. The rumors have been allowed to flow relatively freely on social media in China. The release has reinforced the suspicions. Many wonder whether it could be true that he has had a mistress and that he may therefore have fallen out of favor with the country’s leader, Xi Jinping. There are also rumors of espionage charges against him or his mistress. Qin Gang has risen unusually quickly through the ranks, from being a spokesperson in the Chinese Foreign Ministry, to becoming bag carrier, ambassador to the United States, and then foreign minister. Photo: POOL / Reuters – A star The spotlight is on TV star Fu Xiaotian. She is a world-accustomed 40-year-old. The reporter works for Chinese Phoenix TV. She has been a war reporter, but is best known for the program “Conversations with world leaders”. The program is said to have had an audience of forty million people. She has interviewed well-known names, such as Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and Henry Kissinger, who won the Nobel Peace Prize and is a former US Secretary of State. She has also met former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Italy’s former ambassador is said to have described her as “a star, not only on Phoenix TV, but to everyone who has met her.” She also did an interview with Qin Gang, while he was ambassador to the United States. Taiwan’s Dongsen News is one of many TV channels in and outside China covering the case of China’s foreign minister and his possible relationship with TV star Fu Xiaotian. Photo: Screenshot Youtube Congratulations Fu Xiaotian became a mother in November last year, to a boy named Eer-Kin, and it is not known who the father is. She has not been seen since she posted a photo of herself and her son on board a private jet in Los Angeles in April, apparently bound for Beijing. Earlier messages on the Chinese platform Weibo are said to have given rise to suspicions of a relationship with the foreign minister. Among other things, she congratulated the child’s father on his birthday on March 19, the same day as Qin Gang’s birthday. She is said to have given birth to the child in the United States, and the baby has probably received American citizenship. It could be problematic for Qin, if he is the father, as relations between the great powers are inflamed to say the least. Fu Xiaotian (centre) studied at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge, England. Here she is pictured in the garden that bears her name. Photo: University of Cambridge Own garden Fu Xiaotian has had a garden named after her at the University of Cambridge, where she studied. At the opening of the garden, she was praised for her international commitment and for being an encouragement to young people. Some claim that she paid for the garden herself, but it is not known where she got the money from. She is also said to have often flown in private planes, which she could hardly have afforded herself, despite her star status. Qin Gang is China’s face to the outside world. Here he is with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who visited Beijing on 18 June 2023, just a few days before Qin disappeared from public view. Photo: Leah Millis / AP Consequences While the rumors spread, pundits discuss the consequences of Qin Gang’s disappearance, including in the newspaper SCMP. Xi Jinping demands faithfulness and an outward behavior that creates trust and credibility. Scandals among his closest allies, such as an extramarital affair, will look bad. The foreign minister probably developed a close relationship with President Xi Jinping while he was briefcase bearer, and many believe that this is the reason for Qin’s rapid rise to the top. There were undoubtedly candidates who believed they deserved the prestigious jobs more than Qin, and therefore already have a hen to pick with Xi. If Qin has actually fallen out of favour, these will have a reinforced reason to say that the top manager made a bad decision. This could again fuel division in the Communist Party, which is not always as unison as one might get the impression. Qin Gang had meetings with Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt (Ap) when he was in Oslo in May, 2023. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB
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China’s foreign minister Qin Gang has disappeared – rumors of scandal and a mistress – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
