Qin Gang Demoted to Vice-Ministerial Rank and Forced into Early Retirement

On April 19, 2023, (from left) Wang Yi, Xi Jinping, and Qin Gang met with the visiting President of the Gabonese Republic (not pictured) in Beijing. (Ken Ishii-Pool/Getty Images)

[People News] The Chinese Communist Party’s national “Two Sessions” are being held in Beijing. On the morning agenda of the National People’s Congress meeting on March 8 was Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s press conference. This press conference brought to mind the Two Sessions of March 2023, when Qin Gang, then the newly appointed foreign minister, held a press conference for Chinese and foreign reporters. At that time, he held up the Chinese Communist Party’s Constitution and quoted its “Preamble,” saying: “Taiwan is a sacred part of the territory of the People’s Republic of China.” As a result, he was harshly denounced by the people of Taiwan. One single question—“Which came first, the Republic of China or the People’s Republic of China?”—left Qin Gang speechless. A few months later, Qin Gang disappeared. In July of that same year, he was removed from his post as foreign minister, and in October he was removed from his post as state councilor. He served only about six months in office, becoming the shortest-serving foreign minister since the Chinese Communist Party established its regime in 1949. According to the latest news from Hong Kong media, Qin Gang has now been demoted to vice-ministerial rank and forced into early retirement.

According to a March 8 report by Hong Kong’s Ming Pao, reliable sources revealed that Qin Gang has been demoted from national-level leader to vice-ministerial rank and forced into early retirement, because “after all, although it was a ‘lifestyle issue,’ it caused an extremely bad impact.” The report said that in October last year, Qin Gang was suspected of appearing at the Beijing Music Festival. The following month, a Hong Kong friend visited Beijing and reportedly “ran into Qin Gang by chance” at the Wangfujing Bookstore. The friend said, “I can be certain it was Qin Gang. He was wearing a baseball cap, and his sideburns had already turned white.” He said he stepped forward to greet him, but the other man hurried away.

On October 9 last year, independent current affairs commentator Cai Shenkun posted on X revealing that Qin Gang had retired with vice-ministerial treatment. On September 27 of that year, a memorial ceremony for former ambassador to the European Union Guan Chengyuan was held at the deceased’s home. Hua Chunying attended and conveyed Xi Jinping’s and Cai Qi’s condolences on Guan’s passing. When speaking of Qin Gang’s issue, she said that it had been determined that Qin had no political or economic problems, only an emotional entanglement with Fu Xiaotian. Qin had already retired safely.

Thinking back three years ago, Qin Gang, as the new foreign minister, held up the Chinese Communist Party’s Constitution and bluffed that Taiwan was “a sacred part of the territory of the People’s Republic of China,” giving people the impression that the Chinese Communist Party’s Constitution possessed enormous power. But not long afterward, Qin Gang suddenly disappeared for no clear reason. During that period, reports emerged that he had suffered torture and beatings, yet the authorities never clarified any of it.

As for whether the authorities’ handling process and punishment regarding Qin Gang’s extramarital affair were fully consistent with laws formulated by the Chinese Communist Party, Qin Gang, as once the youngest national leader, would not even have had the chance to raise such a question. The Chinese Communist Party meat grinder never needs a reason to destroy someone. Even Zhang Youxia, the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission who held great power in the military, was suddenly locked up for investigation, with not the slightest ability to protect himself, and to this day has not even had the chance to cry out, “I’ve been wronged!” Much less a foreign minister with no strength even to catch a chicken.

In fact, the Chinese Communist Party’s Constitution gives the people many rights, but they all remain on paper and have never been fulfilled.

Born in 1966, Qin Gang worked in the Chinese Communist Party’s diplomatic system for more than 30 years. He twice served as spokesperson, in 2005 and 2011; in July 2021 he became ambassador to the United States; in October 2022 he entered the Central Committee at the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th National Congress; in January 2023 he succeeded to the post of foreign minister; and in March 2023 he was promoted to vice-state rank as state councilor, becoming the youngest “Party and state leader” in Chinese officialdom.

After taking over as foreign minister, Qin Gang rose two ranks in three months, something very rare in Chinese Communist Party politics. Outside observers believed this was related to Xi Jinping’s special trust in him. By contrast, current Foreign Minister Wang Yi previously served as foreign minister for five years before being promoted to state councilor.

However, beginning on June 25, 2023, Qin Gang “disappeared” from office for a full month; on July 25 he was removed from his post as foreign minister, becoming the shortest-serving foreign minister in Chinese Communist Party history. This attracted high international attention.

On July 18, 2024, Chinese Communist Party state media released the “Communiqué of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.” At the end of the communiqué, it mentioned that the plenary session had decided to remove Qin Gang from his position as a member of the Central Committee. It still retained the form of address “comrade” for Qin Gang.

There has been much speculation from the outside world regarding the reason for Qin Gang’s downfall, including an extramarital affair dating back to his time as ambassador to the United States. His rapid fall has therefore also been seen as a major blow to Xi Jinping’s personnel choices and diplomatic strategic planning.

According to a report by The Dajiyuan, China expert Wang He once said that because the Chinese Communist Party operates as a black box, people can only infer its internal evolution from the information that becomes visible. After Xi Jinping came to power, the importance of the entire Chinese Communist Party diplomatic system increased. That Qin Gang could be rapidly promoted to a vice-state-level leadership position, and moreover become the youngest vice-state-level leader, would have been unimaginable without Xi Jinping’s trust in him. “One factor in Qin Gang being able to make a soft landing is that what he did was not too serious. In addition, Xi Jinping may still have left him some room and has not reached the point of completely abandoning him. The diplomatic system is very special; Xi Jinping does not have reliable people there, and it is also difficult for him to carry out purges.”

Wang He said that Qin Gang’s downfall was to a great extent a matter of infighting within the diplomatic system. Xi Jinping was also constrained by this. Xi is in an extremely difficult and awkward position in the entire diplomatic system, overwhelmed and unable to dismount.

Now that Qin Gang is able to live a retired life and receive such preferential treatment, this also fits some outside speculation and judgments that Xi Jinping truly liked Qin Gang. Even though Qin Gang’s extramarital affair, keeping a mistress, and illegitimate child became major international news and damaged the Chinese Communist Party’s reputation, Chairman Xi still set Qin Gang down gently, preserved his life, and even allowed him to enjoy retirement benefits.

But if other officials have extramarital affairs or illegitimate children, will they receive the same treatment? After all, scandals of sexual immorality among Chinese Communist Party officials never cease, and keeping second wives and mistresses has become common practice.

According to Sound of Hope, citing a report by the American magazine Time, 95% of high-ranking Chinese Communist Party officials arrested for corruption had extramarital affairs, and nearly 60% of fallen officials were brought down in connection with mistresses. Extramarital affairs among officials often become clues in factional struggles within officialdom. Online rumors also say that Xi Jinping has many illegitimate children. It is rumored that the 23-year-old Chinese woman Yang Lanlan, who currently possesses more than 270 billion Australian dollars in Australia, is also Xi’s illegitimate daughter.

In Chinese Communist Party officialdom, once one has power, one gains direct access to the state treasury, and the state treasury becomes the private treasury of high officials. Do not be misled by China’s current economic depression and the misery of the people—there are too many officials in the Chinese Communist Party officialdom whose wealth rivals that of nations to count. For example, Lu Suigeng, former Party branch secretary of Xian Village in Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, was investigated for corruption and abuse of power, involving more than 10 billion yuan. There are quite a number of such officials. △