Former Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who has not been seen in public since last summer, is no longer a member of the Communist Party leadership, the party’s Central Committee in Beijing announced on Thursday.
Qin’s resignation from the top body has been accepted, the committee said after a four-day session. No further details were provided and the reasons for Qin’s disappearance remain unclear.
In the summer of last year, he failed to attend official engagements and, a few weeks later, he was removed from office, after serving just seven months after his appointment by President Xi Jinping.
In February, Qin stepped down as a delegate to the National People’s Congress.
In late summer last year, Li Shangfu, then defense minister, also disappeared from sight, but the reasons have since become clear. At the end of June, he was expelled from the party due to serious corruption allegations.
The Central Committee said on Thursday that Shangfu had also been removed from its ranks.
High-ranking officials have repeatedly dropped out of public view in China in the past. They are often later reported to be under investigation by the party’s disciplinary committee.
