What happened to China's foreign minister? Qin Gang ousted, erased from records with no explanation
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang was ousted earlier this week after merely 207 days at the job. His predecessor Wang Yi was reappointed to the top post on Tuesday and officials insist that they are releasing information ‘normally’ about the situation. But as speculation about Qin's fate and whereabouts continue, all his activities as foreign minister appear to have been erased from official records.
References to the 57-year-old Qin have already been removed from the website of China's foreign ministry. By Wednesday a search for his name yielded no results and previous articles about his diplomatic appearances showed a message saying the page "does not exist or has been deleted". Qin however remains featured on other Chinese government websites - including the State Council, the Ministry of Commerce and state media outlets.
Apart from a brief reference to health problems that was made earlier this week, China has refused to provide any explanation. Speculative reports suggest that the former ambassador to the United States and confidant of President Xi Jinping had fallen out of favour. Spokeswoman Mao Ning said that decisions made on Tuesday by China's top lawmaking body and the president were "very clear".
"Xinhua has already published information. You can refer to that," she added. (With inputs from agencies)
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