China In Eurasia Briefing: China's Missing Foreign Minister Gets Replaced

To find out more, I asked Sari Arho Havren, an associate fellow at London’s Royal United Services Institute: “Qin Gang is not the first, and not the last, high-ranking official to go missing in China. The ‘loud’ silence follows the Chinese Communist Party’s pattern of secretive behavior. While he has been removed and now replaced, the longer the absence takes without a sensible explanation, the higher the chances that Qin’s career is finished. From Beijing’s perspective, however, the way Qin’s disappearance radiates to the outside world is a minor, if any, concern at all."