On June 25, Qin Gang, China's foreign minister, met with his Sri Lankan counterpart. That was his last public appearance.
Since then, the Chinese Communist Party has kept the reason for Qin's absence or whereabouts a secret. The authorities have only claimed "unspecified medical reasons," according to reports published by the South China Morning Post. Qin was dismissed from his position a month into his disappearance.
The same media outlet explained on Wednesday that censors appeared to be preparing to ban the topic on Chinese social media Weibo. For the time being users can continue to post content about his disappearance.
Qin was also temporarily removed from the ministry's files. The message "Sorry, Qin Gang Not Found" pops up following a search. Correspondent Jaime Santirso explained in a series of tweets that the page was recovered thanks to international media outlets who have been covering the story.
The Spanish ABC journalist also claimed that questions about the former minister were removed from the official transcripts of the Foreign Ministry press conferences. Santirso uploaded a video in which he can be heard asking "Could you tell us if he is under criminal investigation? And if so, what kind of charges is he facing?”
Toda pregunta sobre la desaparición y posterior cese del ministro de Exteriores chino Qin Gang es eliminada de la transcripción oficial de la rueda de prensa del organismo.
Por eso @abc_es decidió grabar su última intervención, que dio pie a un intercambio significativo... (sigo) pic.twitter.com/ST5GcIbIJg— Jaime Santirso (@jsantirso) July 30, 2023
Although the ministry spokeswoman dismissed the question, saying that she had already answered similar questions, the reporter insisted, assuring that there was evidence that Qin disappeared from official records. He claimed that is "the reason why sometimes questions are repeated."
The Chinese official said that they decided what to publish in the official records, and she accused him for not being "not interested in her answer.” If that's the case, let's save everyone's time, shall we?"
En su réplica, @abc_es se vio obligado a señalar que la necesidad de repreguntar se debe, además, a la censura de toda mención al exministro.
"En la página web del ministerio nosotros decidimos qué publicar", defendió Mao. /+ pic.twitter.com/S5nXbObVNt— Jaime Santirso (@jsantirso) July 30, 2023
Santirso later shared that this exchange also did not appear in the official transcript.
