Qin Gang, China’s former foreign minister, has resigned from the national legislature, state media reported on Tuesday (Feb 27) citing an official statement.
Qin became the matter of major controversy globally when he was removed from office after disappearing from the public eye for a month. He has been missing from public view since last June.
With the news of his resignation, the question regarding his whereabouts resurfaces.
Qin was removed from his post after his disappearance, which came during a series of dismissals at the top of the party that included former Defence Minister Li Shangfu and other top military officials.
Qin was removed from office by Beijing’s highest legislative body after only 207 days in the role.
China never gave any explanation for Qin’s dismissal. The authorities rather remained a bit secretive and even installed veteran diplomat Wang Yi in his previous post as foreign minister.
As per the recent reports, a notice from the National People’s Congress Standing Committee stated that the Tianjin Municipal People’s Congress has accepted Qin’s resignation as a delegate to the forthcoming annual parliamentary session.
Last year, a reference to Qin had also been removed from the website of China’s foreign ministry, but after some time, his references started to reappear.
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Qin has not been seen in public since June 25 when he met Russia’s deputy foreign minister Andrey Rudenko in Beijing, but China remained silent for weeks about the fate of Qin.
The official websites do not list Qin as a member of the State Council, China’s Cabinet, but there has been no mention of whether he has been excluded from China’s ruling Communist Party.
(With inputs from agencies)
