Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang (秦剛) will skip an international gathering of top diplomats this week due to his “physical condition,” the Beijing government said, making a rare disclosure about the health of an official.
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi (王毅), will instead attend the annual ASEAN gathering of foreign ministers in Indonesia.
The decision was announced by Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) at a regular press briefing in Beijing yesterday. He declined to elaborate on the nature of Qin’s physical condition.
Photo: AP
The meetings, which began yesterday in Jakarta, would have put Qin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the same room for the first time since they met in Beijing last month.
Qin has not been seen in public for 16 days, an absence which had drawn scrutiny in recent days. His last official engagement was on June 25, when he met officials from Sri Lanka, Russia and Vietnam, the Chinese foreign ministry’s Web site said.
Qin had been expected to meet EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell earlier this month, but China abruptly postponed the trip without giving details.
Politico previously reported there was speculation in Brussels the foreign minister had health issues, prompting the delay.
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