Qin Gang
秦刚
Qin in June 2023
State Councilor of the People's Republic of China
Assumed office
12 March 2023
PremierLi Qiang
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
30 December 2022 – 25 July 2023
PremierLi Keqiang
Li Qiang
Preceded byWang Yi
Succeeded byWang Yi
Chinese Ambassador to the United States
In office
27 July 2021 – 5 January 2023
Preceded byCui Tiankai
Succeeded byXie Feng
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
7 September 2018 – 27 July 2021
MinisterWang Yi
Preceded byLi Baodong
Succeeded byDeng Li
Director of the Protocol Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
In office
2 January 2015 – 7 September 2018
Preceded byZhang Kunsheng
Succeeded byHong Lei
Director of the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
In office
December 2011 – January 2015
Preceded byMa Zhaoxu
Succeeded byLiu Jianchao
Personal details
Born (1966-03-19) March 19, 1966 (age 57)
Tianjin, Hebei, China
(now Tianjin, China)
Political partyChinese Communist Party (1988–present)
Children1
Alma materUniversity of International Relations (LLB)
CabinetLi Qiang Government
Signature
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese秦刚
Traditional Chinese秦剛

Qin Gang (Chinese: 秦刚; pinyin: Qín Gāng; born 19 March 1966[1]) is a Chinese diplomat and politician who has been serving as State Councilor of China since March 2023. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of China from December 2022 to July 2023.

Qin previously served as Chinese Ambassador to the United States from 2021 to 2023, vice minister of foreign affairs of China from 2018 to 2021, director of protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2015 to 2018, and director of information at Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2015.

Early life and education

Qin Gang was born in Tianjin, China on 19 March 1966.[1][2]

Qin received a Bachelor of Laws with a major in international politics from the University of International Relations in 1988.[3][4]

Career

After his graduation from college, Qin worked as a staff member at the Beijing Service Bureau for Diplomatic Missions. In 1992, he entered China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as attaché and Third Secretary at the Department of West European Affairs. Later, he worked at the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom as Secretary and Counselor from 1995 to 2005, and worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Information Department as the Deputy Director-General and spokesman from 2005 to 2010.[2]

U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns meeting with Chinese Ambassador to the U.S Qin Gang, before Qin's departure for the U.S.

In September 2010, Qin was appointed as the Envoy of the People's Republic of China to the United Kingdom. In December 2011, he returned to Beijing to serve as the director general of the Foreign Ministry Information Department. From 2014 to 2017, Qin served as the Director General of the Foreign Ministry Protocol Department. He became Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of China in 2017 and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of China in September 2018.[5][6][7][8][2]

Ambassador to the United States

In July 2021, Qin became the 11th Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to the United States, succeeding Cui Tiankai, pursuant to a National People's Congress Standing Committee decision.[9][10]

On September 22, 2021,[11] Qin advocated the CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping's concept of whole-process people's democracy at a conference organized by U.S. think tanks the Carter Center and The George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations, stating, "Isn't it obvious that both China's people-center philosophy and President Lincoln's 'of the people, by the people, for the people' are for the sake of the people? [...] Shall we understand China's socialist whole-process democracy as this: from the people, to the people, with the people, for the people?"[12]

In January 2022, in an interview with NPR, Qin called the Uyghur genocide "fabrications, lies and disinformation."[13]

In April 2022, a special question and answer (Q&A) session between the three taikonauts of Shenzhou 13 aboard the Tiangong space station and American students was held in the Chinese Embassy in the United States, Washington, D.C. Qin served as the official host of the event.[14]

In August 2022, Qin called the 2022 visit by Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan a "farce" and a "total political provocation."[15]

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Qin was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs of China on 30 December 2022.[16][17] He vacated the post of Chinese ambassador to the United States of America on 5 January 2023.[18]

Qin was appointed as a State Councilor during the first session of the 14th National People's Congress on the nomination of the newly appointed premier Li Qiang on 12 March 2023.[19]

Disappearance from public life

On 11 July 2023, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin announced that Qin would not be attending the ASEAN foreign ministers meetings held in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 13 and 14 July due to health reasons. Instead, he was represented by his predecessor Wang Yi, who is serving as the director of the Office of the CCP's Central Foreign Affairs Commission, the top diplomatic post in China at the meetings. Qin has not been seen in public since 25 June 2023 – when he held talks with counterparts from Russia, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka[20] – and did not meet visiting dignitaries including United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in July.[21][22][23] His non-availability was one of the reasons for the cancellation of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union Josep Borrell's visit to China in July.[24]

Speculation around Qin's disappearance centered on an alleged affair with Hong Kong reporter Fu Xiaotian, who also seemed to disappear around the same time.[25][26]

Removal from office

On 25 July 2023, Qin was removed from the office of Minister of Foreign Affairs by a decree signed by president Xi Jinping, after a list of appointments and removals was passed by the 14th National People's Congress Standing Committee.[27][28] Qin's predecessor and the former foreign minister of China, Wang Yi, was re-appointed to the office.[29] China's foreign ministry and official media agencies, including Xinhua News Agency, refused to explain Qin's dismissal.[30][31][32] All mentions of Qin during his tenure as foreign minister were removed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website,[33][34] though they were restored the following day.[35] With a tenure of 207 days, Qin is the shortest-serving foreign minister in the history of the People's Republic of China.[36]

Qin currently continues to serve as a State Councillor.[37]

Personal life

Qin is married. He has one son.[3][38]

References

  1. ^ a b Bagshaw, Eryk (2023-07-25). "'I think he is gone': The strange disappearance of China's foreign minister Qin Gang". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 2023-07-31. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  2. ^ a b c "Biography of Ambassador Qin Gang — Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States of America". Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States of America. Archived from the original on 2022-08-19. Retrieved 2022-08-19.
  3. ^ a b 京华时报 (2015-01-02). 外交部新闻司司长由刘建超兼任 秦刚任礼宾司司长 – 国际 – 人民网. People's Daily. Archived from the original on 2015-05-19. Retrieved 2022-08-19.
  4. ^ moe.gov.cn (2020-03-03). 普通高等学校本科专业目录 (PDF). Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-08-03. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
  5. ^ 秦刚 个性发言人出任驻英公使. Xinhua (in Chinese). 2010-10-20. Archived from the original on October 23, 2010.
  6. ^ 秦刚接替马朝旭出任外交部新闻司司长(图/简历). People's Daily (in Chinese). 2012. Archived from the original on 2014-12-27. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
  7. ^ Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China Archived 2017-09-21 at the Wayback Machine, 2017-09-28.
  8. ^ 秦刚升任外交部副部长. People's Daily. Archived from the original on 2018-09-08. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
  9. ^ 驻美国大使秦刚抵美履新. Archived from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  10. ^ Lahiri, Tripti; Timsit, Annabelle (2021-07-30). "Why China's new ambassador to the US is unlikely to go full "wolf warrior"". Quartz. Archived from the original on 2021-07-30.
  11. ^ "China's Whole-Process Democracy: From the people, To the peopleWith the people, For the people_Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States of America". us.china-embassy.gov.cn. Archived from the original on 2023-01-10. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  12. ^ "Xi's U.S. Envoy Invokes Lincoln in Declaring China a Democracy". Bloomberg News. 2021-09-23. Archived from the original on 2022-05-18. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  13. ^ Inskeep, Steve (January 28, 2022). "China's ambassador to the U.S. warns of 'military conflict' over Taiwan". NPR. Archived from the original on 2022-01-30. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
  14. ^ Cartwright, Joshua (10 April 2022). "Elon Musk featured in Chinese embassy event focused on space exploration". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 8 July 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  15. ^ "China's 'Wolf Warrior' diplomacy looks set to continue under Xi Jinping". Radio Free Asia. 3 January 2023. Archived from the original on 3 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  16. ^ Tian, Yew Lun; Martina, Michael (2022-12-30). "China promotes its U.S. envoy Qin Gang to foreign minister". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2023-01-27. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  17. ^ 秦刚任外交部部长_中华人民共和国外交部. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2023-01-11. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
  18. ^ "Chinese president appoints new ambassadors – Xinhua". Xinhua News Agency. Archived from the original on 2023-01-05. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  19. ^ "十四届全国人大一次会议举行第五次全体会议决定国务院其他组成人员 国家主席习近平签署主席令任命_中国人大网". National People's Congress. Archived from the original on 2023-03-13. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  20. ^ "Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang removed from office". Al Jazeera. 25 July 2023. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  21. ^ Tobin, Meaghan (2023-07-25). "Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang removed from post after only 7 months". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  22. ^ Buckley, Chris; Pierson, David (2023-07-17). "Where Is China's Foreign Minister? Beijing Won't Clear Up the Mystery". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2023-07-18. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
  23. ^ Khaliq, Riyaz ul (2023-07-20). "Amid heavy diplomatic traffic, China's top diplomat still off public". Anadolu Agency. Archived from the original on 2023-07-22. Retrieved 2023-07-23.
  24. ^ Sim, Dewey; Zhou, Laura; Zheng, William (2023-07-11). "'Health reasons': Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang to miss Asean meeting". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2023-07-15. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  25. ^ McDonell, Stephen (26 July 2023). "Qin Gang: The swift rise and mysterious fall of China's missing foreign minister". BBC. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  26. ^ Malleck, Julia (25 July 2023). "China confirmed its missing foreign minister Qin Gang has been sacked from the government". Quartz. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  27. ^ "（受权发布）全国人民代表大会常务委员会决定任免的名单" [(Authorized for publication) List of appointments and dismissals ordered by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress]. Xinhua News Agency. Archived from the original on 2023-07-25. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  28. ^ "中华人民共和国主席令（第八号）" [Order of the President of the People's Republic of China (No. 8)]. 中华人民共和国中央人民政府 Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China. Archived from the original on 2023-07-25. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  29. ^ "China replaces foreign minister Qin after brief stint and weeks of speculation". Reuters. 2023-07-25. Archived from the original on 2023-07-25. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  30. ^ McDonell, Stephen; Fraser, Simon; Ng, Kelly (2023-07-25). "Qin Gang: China removes foreign minister after unexplained absence". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2023-07-25. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  31. ^ "Gone in seven months: China's fired foreign minister Qin Gang". CNA. 25 July 2023. Archived from the original on 29 July 2023. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  32. ^ Pierson, David (2023-07-27). "After Ousting a Top Official, China Erases Him and Evades Questions". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2023-07-27. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
  33. ^ "Dramatic ouster of Qin Gang underscores 'uncertainty, lack of transparency' in China's political system: Analysts". CNA. Archived from the original on 2023-07-27. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
  34. ^ Pierson, David (2023-07-27). "After Ousting a Top Official, China Erases Him and Evades Questions". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2023-07-27. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
  35. ^ Hawkins, Amy (2023-07-27). "China: Qin Gang mystery intensifies as articles wiped from ministry site reappear". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2023-07-27. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
  36. ^ Lai Jinhong 賴錦宏. "秦剛遭免職 成為中共史上任期最短的外長" [Qin Gang dismissed: Shortest serving Foreign Minister in CCP history]. United Daily News (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Archived from the original on 2023-07-25. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  37. ^ "Institutions". english.www.gov.cn. Archived from the original on 2023-07-26. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  38. ^ "秦刚大使简历". 中华人民共和国驻美利坚合众国大使馆 People's Republic of China Embassy in the United States of America. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2022.

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Government offices Preceded byMa Zhaoxu Director of Foreign Ministry Information Department 2011–2015 Succeeded byLiu Jianchao Preceded byZhang Kunsheng Director of Foreign Ministry Protocol Department 2015–2018 Succeeded byHong Lei Preceded byLi Baodong Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs 2018–2021 Succeeded byDeng Li Preceded byWang Yi Minister of Foreign Affairs 2022–2023 Succeeded byWang Yi Diplomatic posts Preceded byCui Tiankai Ambassador of China to the United States 2021–2023 Succeeded byXie Feng
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