Senior Chinese diplomat, in line for foreign minister post, detained after foreign trip

A senior Chinese diplomat, Liu Jianchao, who was being seen as a name for the next finance minister of the country, has been taken into custody by the authorities for questioning after his return from a foreign visit. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday (August 10) that Liu was taken away after returning to Beijing in late July from an overseas work trip. China's State Council Information Office, which handles media queries for the Chinese government, and the Chinese Communist Party International Liaison Department have not yet responded to the matter when Reuters approached them.

The 61-year-old has a history of recording the Communist Party's body in charge of managing ties with foreign political parties. Since he took the role in 2022, he has travelled to more than 20 nations and met officials from more than 160 countries. He had a busy schedule, especially his meetings with the former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington, stoked expectations that the former ambassador and ministry spokesman was being groomed to be the next foreign minister.

His detention has marked the highest-level probe that involves a diplomat since China ousted its former foreign minister and President Xi Jinping's protégé, Qin Gang. He was born in the northeastern province of Jilin. He had a major in English at Beijing Foreign Studies University and studied international relations at Oxford before taking up his first post as a translator with the foreign ministry. He has served in China's mission to Britain and later as ambassador to Indonesia and the Philippines.