Who’s in Charge of China’s Foreign Policy, the Party or the State?

Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee Wang Yi stands before a meeting with US Climate Envoy John Kerry at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on July 18, 2023. FLORENCE LO / POOL / AFP

It’s been 29 days since anyone saw Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang in public. Why he’s gone missing is anyone’s guess. No one outside of a small number of elite Chinese leaders really knows what’s going on, so beware of any speculation you read on Twitter or in the press.

Nonetheless, his absence, largely unprecedented in the modern era for a foreign minister of a major power, is having a noticeable impact on Chinese foreign policy. Most acutely, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly’s decision this weekend to postpone his upcoming visit to Beijing was attributed to Qin’s disappearance.

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by Eric Olander

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