Qin Gang

Early Life and Foreign Ministry Career

Qin Gang was born in March 1966 in Tianjin and graduated from the Department of International Politics of the University of International Relations. From 1988 he worked as a Chinese-language secretary at the Beijing Service Bureau for Diplomatic Missions, and in 1992 he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, alternating between the Department of West European Affairs and the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom, where he rose to deputy division director, division director and embassy counsellor.

In 2005 he became deputy director-general of the ministry's Information Department and a foreign ministry spokesperson. He was posted to the London embassy as minister in 2010, returned a year later as director-general of the Information Department and served a second stint as spokesperson. He moved to head the Protocol Department in 2014, became assistant foreign minister in 2017 and vice foreign minister in 2018, responsible for European affairs, information and protocol.

Ambassador to the United States

In July 2021 Qin succeeded Cui Tiankai as ambassador to the United States, his first posting there. He promoted the concept of "whole-process people's democracy" at a conference held by American think tanks; in a January 2022 interview with NPR he rejected allegations of genocide in Xinjiang; and in August 2022 he denounced House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan as a political provocation.

Foreign Minister

On 30 December 2022 the NPC Standing Committee appointed Qin foreign minister, succeeding Wang Yi; he left Washington in January 2023 to take up the post. On 12 March 2023 the First Session of the 14th NPC, on Premier Li Qiang's nomination, also made him a State Councilor. As foreign minister he described the "wolf warrior diplomacy" label as a narrative trap.

On 6 April 2023 Qin met Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian together in Beijing, where they had come for their own talks. He said the Saudi-Iranian dialogue in Beijing the previous month had achieved major results and that China would continue to act as a well-meaning and reliable mediator; after the ministers' meeting he witnessed their signing of a joint statement announcing the resumption of diplomatic relations with immediate effect.

Removal

Qin made no public appearances after 25 June 2023. On 11 July the foreign ministry said he would miss the ASEAN foreign ministers' meetings in Jakarta for health reasons and that Wang Yi would attend instead. On 25 July the NPC Standing Committee removed him as foreign minister and reappointed Wang Yi, without giving a reason. Having served about seven months, Qin was the shortest-serving foreign minister in the history of the People's Republic.

On 24 October 2023 the NPC Standing Committee also removed him as State Councilor. In February 2024 the Tianjin Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee accepted his resignation as a deputy to the 14th NPC, and in July 2024 the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee accepted his request to resign from the Central Committee, still referring to him as "comrade". Overseas media have offered various accounts of the reasons for his removal, none confirmed by the Chinese authorities.