The disappearance of the Qin Gang from public life for more than a month has been the subject of much speculation, but now the landscape is clearer in Chinese politics. The senior official, who held the position of China’s foreign minister, will now resume his position in the Communist Party of China (CPC), but with an uncertain future regarding the agenda he would lead. Why was this change made?
Just as it happens in all countries, high political positions in China are highly cherished for the agenda, influence, and power that emanates from them. The selection and appointment of officials is a central issue in every internal CPC reorganisation, especially during its national conferences, where Xi Jinping maintains broad control today without visible opposition.
Unlike other political systems in which concessions are usually made within the party or outside it to respect alliances or “pay favours”, in China the leader usually has greater capacity and strength to establish positions at his convenience. In this way, those who become senior government officials are, to a large extent, protected by the CPC’s incumbent leader, that is, Xi.
Due to the above, the removal of Qin as Minister of Foreign Relations is very surprising, a position which not only is one of the most relevant in Beijing politics, and in general of any government, but it is one that should have more stability, after all, we are talking about a position that coordinates the foreign action of a state. In this sense, the change was made after a very short period of time since the foreign minister took office, which was just seven months ago. That is something unusual in China, since Zhongnanhai normally maintains long terms for strategic positions of the Chinese government.
After a series of meetings between China and diplomats from other countries where Qin was absent, speculation began to grow. According to reports, there had been no public appearances by the foreign minister because he was experiencing health problems. It does not sound very different from other times when Beijing has had to do some moves to make policy changes within the CPC.
That was the same explanation that the Chinese media offered when they removed Hu Jintao, the former Chinese president and main counterweight to Xi, from the 20th National Congress of the CPC. We must recall on that occasion they were going to vote for the next presidential term. Without the presence of the previous Chinese leader, the ground was going to be more stable for the current one.
So, why was the change in the chancellery generated? As is well known, the Chinese political system is widely known for its secrecy and opacity, so at the moment the reasons behind Qin’s removal are not known with certainty. He is known to be a hardline, aggressive and rising political character in Beijing. However, his political growth and prominence is perhaps something that has endangered the direction of foreign policy in the Asian giant.
In China’s political system, foreign policy is carried out by the foreign minister, but it is actually formulated by other senior officials within the CPC. This high prominence of Qin is something that perhaps the Zhongnanhai did not like, although the rumours of an internal fight for the position also feed the possibilities of finding other reasons to explain this scenario.
Consequently, Wang Yi, who was foreign minister from 2013 to 2022, has been appointed the new foreign minister. He is a familiar face for Xi, but given his age, he is not necessarily the best option, since the CPC has a practice of not employing people of a certain age as senior officials, so we should not be surprised if we see another replacement soon after the one already carried out.
