Claim: China's missing former foreign minister is working at a bookstore

Since the summer of 2023, when then-Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang mysteriously disappeared, his fate has been the subject of intense speculation.

According to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, the former minister has been assigned to a low-level job at a publishing house affiliated with the Chinese Foreign Ministry. According to former officials, the 58-year-old Qin has been placed in a job, at least on paper, at World Affairs Press, a state-run publisher under the Foreign Ministry. Officials stated, "He will not go to jail, but his career is over."

'NOT A PUNISHMENT, BUT A CAUTIONARY TALE'

The official said this is likely not just a punishment but also a cautionary tale. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has repeatedly refused to comment on the fate of its former boss and did not respond to questions sent by fax regarding his new role. As a loyalist to Xi, Qin was promoted to foreign minister at a record pace. At 56, he not only became minister but also rose to the position of state councilor, a high-level post that his predecessor Wang Yi did not achieve until his 60s after serving as foreign minister for five years.

Qin was promoted to vice foreign minister in 2018, and then to ambassador to the U.S. in 2021. He served in that role for only 18 months before returning to Beijing to become China's youngest foreign minister since the 1950s.

REMOVED FROM OFFICE IN JULY

Five months after becoming foreign minister, he disappeared from the public eye, sparking a series of rumors about his downfall. He was officially removed from office in July of last year after serving only 207 days.

The 70-year-old Wang returned as foreign minister to replace his successor. What led to Qin's removal remains unclear. A leading theory among political analysts in China is that Qin had an extramarital affair with Fu Xiaotian, a well-known Chinese television journalist, and that the couple had a child out of wedlock in the United States.

'YOU WILL NEVER SEE HIM'

However, analysts said that Fu's celebrity lifestyle, including her social media posts about traveling on private jets to meet world leaders and caring for her son, made the relationship a potential security vulnerability for Qin.

Victor Gao, a former translator for top Chinese leaders, faced questions about Qin's whereabouts in a recent interview with Al Jazeera. Gao, who is now the vice president of the think tank Center for China and Globalization, said, "He is somewhere in China. You will never see him."