Politico: Former Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang may have committed suicide or died after being tortured

15:40, December 6, 2023Source:

Former Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, removed from office in July 2023, died in a Beijing military hospital where Chinese leaders are treated as a result of torture or suicide, Politico writes, citing sources close to senior Chinese officials.

Qin Gang has stopped appearing in public since June 25th. Then he held talks with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabri, as well as with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko.

A month after this meeting, Qin Gang was dismissed, and Wang Yi, who led the department from 2013 to 2022, was appointed to his post.

According to Politico’s sources, the disappearance and subsequent removal of the minister could be related to Rudenko’s visit to Beijing. According to them, during this trip, the Deputy Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry allegedly conveyed information to Chinese President Xi Jinping that Qin Gang and the relatives of several high-ranking officers were transferring “nuclear secrets” of the PRC to the intelligence services of Western countries.

Chinese authorities did not comment on Politico’s report. An RTVI interlocutor in diplomatic circles noted that Rudenko could not have been involved in the removal of Qin Gang. “It is simply not the responsibility of any deputy minister to discuss this type of thing. Stories like this are at the level of the president personally and not at a lower rank,” the source explained.

In the summer and autumn of 2023, reports began to appear in the media about the disappearance of high-ranking Chinese officials and military personnel. Thus, at the end of August, Defense Minister Li Shangfu stopped appearing in public, and in October, China Central Television announced his removal. The reasons for this decision were not reported. In addition, the commander of the Chinese missile forces, Li Yuchao, and his deputy Liu Guangbin disappeared in the summer. In August , Wang Houbin was appointed commander , and Xu Xisheng was appointed his deputy.

(C)POLITICO 2023