The Foreign Minister of China Qin Gang, a former ambassador to the United States, has reportedly been fired by President Xi Jinping, Politico reports, although Qin has not been scene publicly at least the last three weeks.
The 57-year-old Qin, a loyalist to Xi, had been named to the post in December and quickly forged relationships with Western governments. Besides U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Dutch counterpart Wopke Hoekstra had all made trips to Beijing recently to work with Qin. He’ll be replaced by his predecessor, 69-year-old Wang Yi, more of a Communist Party stalwart who headed the CCP’s Foreign Affairs committee.