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:
So we don’t really know.