Beijing, China

China had removed Qin Gang from the post of foreign minister in July this year under mysterious circumstances.

Advertisment

Now five months later, Nikkei Asia has made this bombshell revelation: It could have been Russian President Vladimir Putin’s tip lead that led Chinese President Xi Jinping to purge his foreign minister.

Nikkei Asia released this report on December 14 which says that Qin Gang might have become a victim of Russian informational warfare.

According to the report, Qin Gang was driving China’s foreign policy away from Russia and in favour of Ukraine, much to Putin’s chagrin.

Advertisment

Qin Gang’s pro-Ukraine turn

It all began in May when a Chinese delegation made a visit to Ukraine and met with President Volodymyr Zelensky. The delegation was led by Li Hui, a former Chinese ambassador to Russia.

This meeting was the first indication that Beijing was changing its posture in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Advertisment

Just after that meeting, China also let Zelensky use Chinese airspace to fly to Japan for a G7 meeting.

Watch: Putin addresses ruling party conference | Accuses West of disruption across sectors

×

In that meeting, Zelensky lashed out at Russia and appealed to the world for more support and aid. This again, did not go down well with Russia.

It was around that time when China expressed its willingness to mediate between Russia and Ukraine.

All of this rattled the Kremlin, especially President Vladimir Putin, who then chose to play the gamble of his life.

Putin’s gamble

Russia gave a tip-off to Beijing. It was about Qin Gang. Russia claimed that Qin Gang could be an American insider, given his close links to the US. 

Russia said Qin could possibly be a US spy. This claim possibly came with some “evidence” which forced Xi Jinping to take concrete action.

"Russia passed on internal information to Beijing's upper echelons that Qin was strongly suspected to be a spy for the US," Nikkei Asia quoted a top source as saying.

Also read: Russian President Vladimir Putin warns of `problems` with Finland after NATO membership

It was not clear what evidence was given to China by Russian intelligence. Most likely, it was about Qin's extramarital affair with a high-profile Chinese TV presenter.

According to reports by Western media, Qin had a child with the TV presenter with the help of a surrogate mother in the US.

Russia, especially, focused on this scandal as well as on the woman, who had lived in the US and the UK. Russia gave the impression that Qin Gang was corrupted by a woman who was too close to the Western countries.

Scandal exploded within the CCP

It is believed that this scandal virtually exploded within the Chinese Communist Party. The suspicion grew that Qin Gang's lover might have passed intelligence regarding domestic political issues to Washington.

After that, not only Qin Gang was removed from his post, even his whereabouts are not known till today.

Watch: Gravitas | Did Putin inform Xi Jinping about Qin Gang's shenanigans?

×

However, it’s not rare for senior Chinese officials to have extramarital affairs, and there are not many cases where they were dismissed from top positions for such transgressions.

It must be noted that Qin Gang was really close to Xi Jinping. He was even familiar with aspects of Xi's private life. 

So, when this scandal came out, top CCP officials couldn’t afford to retain him as China’s top diplomat. He had to be purged.

Qin Gang—Still a taboo within the CCP

According to Nikkei Asia, the Qin episode is so grave that even top CCP officials are asked to not talk about it.

They are under a strict gag order. 

Even the internal explanation that was given to party members was vague, citing a "lifestyle-related issue."

China’s stance following Qin’s disappearance

After Qin's disappearance, China quickly returned to its pro-Moscow stance in terms of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. China also stopped publicly expressing its desire to mediate a ceasefire.

It was only after Beijing's change of heart that Putin made a visit to China in October to attend an international conference marking the 10th anniversary of Xi's highly ambitious and now embattled Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

This rare episode tells us a lot of things about the precarious Russia-China ties.

Also read: China sacks 'missing' Qin Gang as foreign minister, reinstates Wang Yi in surprise shake-up

Firstly, despite the glaring bonhomie visible on the surface, there are deep internal rifts in the Russia-China alliance. There is a sense of lack of credibility, lack of trust and abundance of suspicion.

Secondly, no matter how hard the West tries to project Russia as a junior partner in this alliance, it still holds the power to wipe out China's top diplomat and turn the global political tide in its favour.

(With inputs from agencies)