China's former foreign minister Qin Gang has not been seen in public since he was removed in July 2023. - Reuters
BEIJING: China’s ruling Communist Party ousted former Foreign Minister Qin Gang from a top leadership body more than a year after his mysterious disappearance from public view.
The party’s elite Central Committee accepted Qin’s resignation from the body, according to a communique released by the official Xinhua News Agency at the end of a twice-a-decade conclave in Beijing. No reason was given in the statement, which continues to refer to Qin as "comrade.”
President Xi Jinping’s handpicked foreign minister was abruptly fired in July last year after just seven months in the job, with his predecessor Wang Yi taking over the post. Qin stepped down from the country’s top legislative body in February, which meant he lost immunity from criminal prosecution.
For now Qin retains his Communist Party membership, suggesting a less severe fate compared with former Defence Ministers Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe, who were both ousted from the Communist Party last month on graft allegations.
The reference to Qin as "comrade” suggests Beijing may not wish for the public to perceive his wrongdoings as comparable to the departures of other figures who aren’t described using this term, said Dongshu Liu, an assistant professor specialising in Chinese politics at the City University of Hong Kong.
"It indicates the level of seriousness of Qin’s departure may not rise to that of the other three mentioned or, at least, that Beijing doesn’t wish to signal to outsiders that he’s as punishable,” Liu said.
The Central Committee on Thursday (July 18) confirmed a Politburo decision to remove the Rocket Force’s Li Yuchao and Sun Jinming from the party. They were found to have "severely violated discipline and laws” by the Central Military Commission, a phrase that usually refers to corruption.
Li Yuchao was a former commander of the army overseeing China’s expanding nuclear arsenal and conventional missiles. Xi’s government has unseated at least 16 senior military figures since opening a corruption investigation last summer into hardware purchases dating back to 2017. Several of those officials, including Sun and Wei, have ties to the Rocket Force, which underwent a major reorganization under Xi in 2015.
The Central Committee officially promulgates the party’s most important policies and personnel rosters, although it is invariably rubber stamping decisions made higher up. Its 200-odd members hold posts not only in the party but across the provincial, municipal and central governments as well as the military and state-owned enterprises.
It announced the addition of three new members. They are: Ding Xiangqun from the party committee of Anhui; Yu Lijun from the party committee of Sichuan; and Yu Jihong, principal of Beijing Normal University. - Bloomberg
