The lengthy absence from public view of China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang has sparked furious online speculation, while once again highlighting China’s secrecy.
The 57-year-old has not been seen in public for 23 days - his last reported engagements were on 25 June.
Appointed to his post last December, Mr Qin was seen as a trusted aide of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
As one of the best known faces of the Chinese government, Mr Qin’s prolonged absence has not only been scrutinised by diplomats and China watchers, but also ordinary Chinese people.
Honestly I am not sure how big of a deal this is because I’ve seen several reports before about “missing” Chinese figures that always end up resolved.
Sometimes, of course, there are good reasons to suspect they were put in some shady facility but I have no reason to suspect that here necessarily.
At least the article is quite honest here:
Under China’s largely opaque system, an abrupt disappearance of high-profile officials could be a sign of trouble. Ms Mao’s empty response led to a fresh spike in the already fevered speculation about Mr Qin’s absence and prompted deeper suspicion.
It is not uncommon for high-profile figures in China to disappear for long periods of time without much initial explanation, only to surface later as the subject of a criminal investigation. Or they can disappear and then reappear with no explanation for why they have been out of sight.
So we don’t really know.