China removes foreign minister Qin Gang; Wang Yi gets old job back

China foreign minister Qin Gang (left) has been removed from his post by Beijing and replaced by his predecessor Wang Yi (right). - AFP/Reuters

BEIJING (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): China removed Qin Gang as Foreign Minister on Tuesday (July 25) after just half a year on the job, and exactly a month after he disappeared from public view, spurring rampant speculation on his whereabouts.

The country’s top legislature voted to remove Qin, 57, at an urgent meeting called on Tuesday. In a surprise move, however, it reappointed former foreign minister Wang Yi, 69, to the position he had held for 10 years until the end of 2022.