China's foreign minister Qin Gang was dramatically ousted on Tuesday after a prolonged absence from public view and replaced by his predecessor in a surprising and highly unusual shake-up of the country's foreign policy leadership.
The sudden move, approved by the top decision-making body of China's rubber-stamp parliament, comes as mystery has swirled around the fate of Qin, who has not been seen in public for a month.
Qin, 57, a career diplomat and trusted aide of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, had only been appointed foreign minister in December after serving as China's ambassador to Washington.
No reason has yet been given for Qin's departure but his predecessor Wang Yi will now step back into the role, authorities confirmed.
Wang, who was foreign minister from 2013 to 2022, now serves as director of the foreign affairs arm of the ruling Communist Party, a position which makes him China's top diplomat.
The appointment of the new foreign minister occurred during a meeting of the China's National People's Congress Standing Committee meeting on Tuesday. The meeting was abruptly announced on Monday in a deviation from usual precedent.
The sudden move comes in the middle of a busy and important diplomatic period for China following its emergence from its pandemic isolation earlier this year and as Beijing tries to mend strained relationships with international partners.
The high-profile diplomat has not been seen in public since June 25, after he met with officials from Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Russia in Beijing.
In his last public appearance, a smiling Qin was seen walking side by side with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, who flew to Beijing to meet with Chinese officials after a short-lived insurrection by the Wagner mercenary group in Russia.
Qin's disappearance from China's foreign affairs schedule has not been fully explained by the ministry, which briefly cited "health reasons" when he missed a diplomatic gathering earlier this month.
It also caused apparent disruptions with Wang Yi already having to step back into the role to attend an annual foreign ministers' meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Indonesia earlier this month.
Wang was present at a key meeting of representatives for security affairs of the BRICS bloc of major developing economies this week in South Africa, ahead of a leaders' summit in Johannesburg next month.
Qin had a quick rise to the position of foreign minister and his appointment last year over more experienced candidates caused some surprise among observers of elite Chinese politics, but was widely seen as a sign of Xi's trust in the diplomat.
Adding to the intrigue of Qin's ouster is his perceived close ties to Xi, who secured a norm-breaking third term in power last autumn with a new leadership team stacked with loyal allies.
"Qin Gang was single-handedly pulled up the ranks by Xi. Any problems with him will reflect badly on Xi too -- implying that Xi failed to choose the right person for the job," said Deng Yuwen, a former editor of a Communist Party newspaper who now lives in the US, told CNN earlier this month
"If anything unusual happened to a senior official, people will wonder if their relations with the top leader have soured or whether it is a sign of political instability," said Deng.
Senior Chinese officials have disappeared from public view in the past, only to be revealed months later by the ruling Communist Party's disciplinary watchdog that they've been detained for investigations. Such sudden disappearances have become a common feature in Xi's anti-corruption campaign.
