China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who replaced Qin Gang this week after his summary dismissal, has said in his first comments that Beijing would deepen its global partnerships while resolutely safeguarding its sovereignty, security and development interests.
Significantly, the Chinese Foreign Ministry, which scrubbed the name, photos and speeches of Qin soon after his sacking on Tuesday, restored them on Friday. Soon after China's Parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), passed a resolution sacking Qin, 57, and re-appointed director of the ruling Communist Party's Foreign Affairs Commission Wang, 69, as the foreign minister, all references to Qin were scrubbed out by the foreign ministry on Wednesday.
However, within two days, the content of Qin's engagements during his six-month stint as the foreign minister has been reloaded on the official Chinese website of the ministry.
Asked about Qin's records reappearing on the website, the ministry urged the media not to over-decode the information. "We have taken notice that the (foreign ministry) website has been updated. It's normal to update information. You don't have to over-decode our information, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted spokeswoman Mao Ning as saying on Friday.
Wang, in his first comments after being re-appointed as China's foreign minister, said China, under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, will deepen and expand global partnerships with win-win cooperation.
“At the same time, China will resolutely defend its national sovereignty, security and development interests and fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens overseas,” he said in a message posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry website.
While Qin was the foreign minister, he still had to answer to Wang, who as the head of the Communist Party's foreign affairs commission occupied the top diplomatic position in China's party-centric power hierarchy. Wang has now taken on Qin's job.
Qin was made the foreign minister in December last year, superseding many seniors and earning the distinction of being a rising star in the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC). He was one of the youngest appointees to the post in China's history. Before his elevation, Xi had sent Qin as China's ambassador to the US to stabilise Beijing's stalled ties with Washington.
No reason has yet been given for Qin's sacking nor his whereabouts are known yet. The high-profile minister has not been seen in public since June 25, after he met with officials from Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Russia here.
Wang returns to a post he held for most of the past decade. From 2004 to 2007, he served as China's ambassador in Tokyo. Interestingly, Wang met India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval this week in Johannesburg on the sidelines of the meeting of NSAs of the BRICS grouping. Wang also met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar this month on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Ministerial Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia.
During both meetings, the Indian leaders conveyed to the Chinese leader that the situation along the Line of Actual Control in the Western Sector of the India-China boundary since 2020 had eroded strategic trust and the public and political basis of the relationship.
They also underlined the importance of continuing efforts to fully resolve the situation and restore peace and tranquillity in the border areas, so as to remove impediments to normalcy in bilateral relations.
