The announcement of Qin’s removal comes after weeks of speculation about his whereabouts.
Qin has not been seen in public since 25 June, when he met Russia’s deputy foreign minister Andrey Rudenko in Beijing. But it was his absence from a high-level ASEAN summit in Indonesia two weeks later that first raised eyebrows.
China’s foreign ministry said “health reasons” were to blame for Qin’s absence. But that has done little to stem an explosion of rumours online.
“Everyone is concerned about something but cannot discuss it publicly,” Hu Xijin, a prominent commentator with the state tabloid Global Times, said in a post on Weibo.
“A balance needs to be struck between maintaining the situation and respecting the public’s right to know,” he said.
The foreign ministry has since deflected further questions about Qin’s absence.
CCTV’S short statement said Wang Yi, who serves as Chinese President Xi Jinping’s top foreign policy aide, is the new foreign minister.
Qin, considered a confidant of President Xi Jinping, was appointed foreign minister in December 2022.
The 57-year-old spent several years at the Chinese embassy in London and is a fluent English speaker.
Qin earned a reputation as a “Wolf Warrior”, a nickname given to a new generation of Chinese diplomats who push back with often inflammatory rhetoric against Western criticism of Beijing.
He said in 2020 the image of China in the West had deteriorated because Europeans and Americans -- in particular the media -- had never accepted the Chinese political system or its economic rise.
While serving as ambassador to the United States, Qin stepped up his visibility through public and media appearances in Washington in which he explained the Chinese position.
He kept up a busy schedule after his appointment as minister, visiting Africa, Europe and Central Asia as well as hosting foreign dignitaries in Beijing.
