Qin Gang | |||||||
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秦刚 | |||||||
![]() Qin in June 2023 | |||||||
State Councilor of the People's Republic of China | |||||||
Assumed office 12 March 2023 | |||||||
Premier | Li Qiang | ||||||
Minister of Foreign Affairs | |||||||
In office 30 December 2022 – 25 July 2023 | |||||||
Premier | Li Keqiang Li Qiang | ||||||
Preceded by | Wang Yi | ||||||
Succeeded by | Wang Yi | ||||||
Chinese Ambassador to the United States | |||||||
In office 27 July 2021 – 5 January 2023 | |||||||
Preceded by | Cui Tiankai | ||||||
Succeeded by | Xie Feng | ||||||
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs | |||||||
In office 7 September 2018 – 27 July 2021 | |||||||
Minister | Wang Yi | ||||||
Preceded by | Li Baodong | ||||||
Succeeded by | Deng Li | ||||||
Director of the Protocol Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs | |||||||
In office 2 January 2015 – 7 September 2018 | |||||||
Preceded by | Zhang Kunsheng | ||||||
Succeeded by | Hong Lei | ||||||
Director of the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs | |||||||
In office December 2011 – January 2015 | |||||||
Preceded by | Ma Zhaoxu | ||||||
Succeeded by | Liu Jianchao | ||||||
Personal details | |||||||
Born | Tianjin, Hebei, China (now Tianjin, China) | March 19, 1966||||||
Political party | Chinese Communist Party (1988–present) | ||||||
Children | 1 | ||||||
Alma mater | University of International Relations (LLB) | ||||||
Cabinet | Li Qiang Government | ||||||
Signature | ![]() | ||||||
Chinese name | |||||||
Simplified Chinese | 秦刚 | ||||||
Traditional Chinese | 秦剛 | ||||||
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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.
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]