Qin Gang, who made headlines last year for his abrupt months-long disappearance and replacement as the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Minister of Foreign Affairs, has been reassigned to a low-level propaganda position, according to the Washington Post.
The Post reported Sept. 8 (Sunday) that per information provided by two former U.S. officials, Qin has been given a job with the World Affairs State Press, a publishing house run by the Chinese foreign ministry.
While the demotion represents a “fall from grace” and the end of his career Qin’s fate leaves him “off the hook” from jail, the officials said.
Rumors and analysis
Qin — who previously served as China’s ambassador to the United States — was removed from the foreign minister post in July 2023, after just 207 days on the job. The lack of official information surrounding the event fueled extensive rumors about the reasons for his downfall and his whereabouts.
Among the rumors were claims that Qin had been purged over fathering an illegitimate child born in the U.S., as well as speculation that he was discovered betraying intelligence about Communist China’s rocket forces to Washington.
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Other sources claimed that Qin had been executed or died under torture.
According to New York-based political risk consultancy SinoInsider, the reassignment of Qin to a sinecure position — rather than being killed — indicates that he was likely not taken down for as serious a charge as selling state secrets. Instead, he was probably purged for more ordinary corruption.
The case of Qin Gang is significant because unlike the vast majority of officials purged under Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign, he was part of Xi’s own faction, SinoInsider analyzed following Qin’s downfall.
“The Xi camp would be looking to end the speculation that Qin is dead,” SinoInsider wrote in a recent newsletter.
Citing the previous example of Liu Shiyu, an economic official in the Xi camp abruptly investigated for corruption in May 2019, SinoInsider says Qin’s muted downfall “could be linked to efforts by Xi Jinping’s lingering factional enemies and the ‘anti-Xi coalition,’ including elements opposed to Xi in the military or the CCP intelligence apparatus.”
These efforts could have made use of Xi’s anti-corruption campaign and prioritization of national security matters to nab Qin, and in so doing, compel the CCP authorities to take down an ally of the leader, SinoInsider wrote last July.
