BEIJING - China’s Wang Yi made his first public comments on Friday since being reinstated as foreign minister, pledging to expand global partnerships while also defending China’s sovereignty and security.
His remarks were posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s website at the same time that information on former foreign minister Qin Gang – which was erased entirely after his removal from office – was restored.
Mr Wang, 69, who is concurrently the Communist Party of China’s foreign policy chief – the country’s top-ranking diplomat – on Tuesday took over from Mr Qin, 57, who has been missing from public view since June 25.
China will “firmly defend the interests of national sovereignty, security and development”, Mr Wang said in the statement, and “embrace the world with a broader mind, be ambitious, abide by the principles of righteousness, innovate, and forge ahead with perseverance”.
Dr Chen Gang, a senior research fellow at the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore, said: “Wang Yi has become the most powerful foreign minister in the reform era, with a seat in Politburo.”
The Politburo is a 24-member elite grouping of the country’s top leaders.
Speculation has been rife since Mr Qin disappeared a month ago, missing a string of key meetings and diplomatic events both at home and abroad.
While the Foreign Ministry has previously attributed his absence from an Asean summit to a “health condition”, analysts have pointed to the likelihood of an ongoing investigation into possible wrongdoing.
Foreign journalists have sought answers at the ministry’s daily news conference, only to be met with terse stock replies from its spokesman.
On Friday, spokesman Mao Ning once again refused to divulge more information on Mr Qin, but acknowledged there had been many questions.
“I have answered them, and I am grateful for your interest in China’s diplomacy, but many of them are repetitive or highly similar questions. I suggest that in order to save everyone’s time, repeated questions should not be asked,” she said.
After days of being questioned about why Mr Qin’s information was completely scrubbed from its website, the Foreign Ministry on Friday also reinstated his previous engagements under “Minister’s Activities”.
When asked, Ms Mao said that it was “normal” for websites to be updated, and there was no need to “read too much into it”.
Separately, former vice-foreign minister Le Yucheng, who was in 2022 tipped as a contender to be foreign minister, has stepped down from his deputy director position at the National Radio and Television Administration.
The 60-year-old, who is an expert on Russia, was moved out of the Foreign Ministry last year after decades, paving the way for Mr Qin to be promoted to foreign minister last December.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Friday announced a list of appointments and removals, but did not elaborate on Mr Le’s departure. However, he has reached retirement age for vice-ministerial-level officials.
