Qin Gang, the former foreign minister of China, who was missing from public view since June last year, has resigned from the national legislature, according to media reports.
The statement issued after a meeting of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), said Qin’s resignation has been accepted, the South China Morning Post reported.
The announcement helps to tie up some loose ends ahead of next week’s meeting of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body, in Beijing.
Qin was last seen in public on June 25 when he met diplomats from Russia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. A month later, he was removed from the position of foreign minister. His disappearance had fuelled intense speculation about his whereabouts. Qin was hand-picked by President Xi Jinping.
The Chinese government refused to give any official reason for Qin’s dismissal and he was subsequently stripped of his post as a state councillor. Initially Beijing said that Qin had skipped the international gathering of top diplomats because of a “physical condition.”
The Wall Street Journal had then reported that Qin was having an affair with a TV presenter while serving as the US ambassador.
The newspaper had then said that Chinese officials were briefed on the results of the investigation and were told that the reason for Qin’s dismissal was “lifestyle issues” and that it could have endangered national security.
After his dismissal, his predecessor Wang Yi was reinstated to the post of foreign minister.
Former defence minister Li Shangfu’s name was scrubbed from the defence website after he abruptly disappeared from public view last October.
According to media reports, it is not uncommon for public figures to disappear for weeks or even months while under investigation before any news indicating their fate surfaces.
