Diplomat Qin Gang ‘fired’ amid ‘sex and spy’ rumors
Was he left ‘vulnerable to accusations that he was compromised by foreign intelligence agencies?’
Rumors linked to the shadowy world of intelligence agencies and an illicit love affair swirl around the curious case of Qin Gang.
Last month, he vanished from the public gaze before being “removed” as China’s foreign minister earlier this week and deleted from official digital records.
The 57-year-old former ambassador to the United States has become a “non-person” in the eyes of the ruling Communist Party despite his strong ties to President Xi Jinping.
“So what did Qin do? As I wrote last week, an affair – as is rumored – isn’t enough to lead to this kind of downfall in China. At this point, it seems as if a health problem can [also] be ruled out,” Deputy Editor James Palmer speculated in the Foreign Policy China Brief newsletter.
“My best guess is that Qin’s time in the United States – and the United Kingdom before that – left him vulnerable to accusations that he was compromised by foreign intelligence agencies,” he said.
“[This has been a] major CCP fear since Beijing discovered the extent of CIA penetration in China before 2010. And if that’s the case, it will make US-China relations even worse,” Palmer added.
Behind the scenes:
- Last week, it was reported that Qin had an alleged extramarital affair with Phoenix TV’s influential presenter Fu Xiaotian.
- She also disappeared from public view around the same time, Taiwan and Hong Kong newspapers highlighted, according to The Times of London.
- Fu, 40, is Cambridge-educated and still has close links with the prestigious British university.
- Further allegations have circulated around the rumored relationship.
[It will] do no favors for Beijing’s international [image].
Neil Thomas of the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis
Delve deeper: “The Chinese government has not denied rumors of an affair between Qin and [the] high-powered and well-connected Fu, who is suspected of being a double agent,” Asia Sentinel, an independent news site, reported last week, adding that a source said she is “alleged to have links to British intelligence.”
Big picture: What is not open to speculation is the serious lack of transparency within the all-powerful Communist Party. For the US and its democratic allies, this will only confirm their concerns about Comrade Xi’s regime.
Between the lines: “Qin’s removal will reinforce perceptions abroad that the Communist Party is an opaque and unreliable diplomatic partner,” Neil Thomas, of the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis, said.
Parting shot: “[It will] do no favors for Beijing’s international efforts to portray its governance system as worthy of praise and emulation,” Thomas told the CNN network.
China Factor comment: The Party’s top diplomat Wang Yi will take over from Qin. He did the job before being promoted to the exclusive Politburo last year. Nothing much will change on the surface of Chinese foreign policy. But underneath, there will be major rumblings.