When a foreign minister goes missing, it is a matter of concern. When a Chinese foreign minister goes AWOL, you needn’t have been binging on House of Cards to be genuinely worried about his well-being. Qin Gang was last publicly seen on June 25 next to Russian deputy foreign minister Andrey Rudenko in Beijing, after which, poof. He seems to ‘have done an Alibaba’ – what happened to (read: was done to) Jack Ma before the ex-billionaire popped back again as an honorary professor in a Hong Kong university. It is too early to say that Qin will get a similar faculty position. But as Xi Jinping‘s protege who got the job as foreign minister only seven months ago, his disappearance is making for Chinese whispers. Meanwhile, Qin’s predecessor Wang Yi has replaced him.
True, in a hyper-centralised party system like China‘s, Qin’s job was more as Xi’s fist in a suited-booted glove. Which is why his vanishing – ‘health reasons’, say Beijing’s official euphamismongers – has started ox-tongue pastries wagging about Qin’s Lucifer-like fall from grace. Whatever the reason, his missingness doesn’t make Xi, who likes control more than an airport control tower, look good. Whatever be the political fallout – or fall-in – we wish Qinji’s return from the wilderness and good health. Cabinet reshuffles are one thing. Missing ministers, quite another.
