File pictures of former Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang (left) and Defence Minister Li Shangfu (right).
| Photo Credit: Agencies

China’s ruling Communist Party on July 18 accepted the resignation of sacked Foreign Minister Qin Gang from its Central Committee and endorsed the decision to expel former Defence Minister Li Shangfu and two other top Generals from the Party.

The decision came during the top-level meeting of the Party’s Central Committee, which concluded here on July 18.

According to the communique issued at the end of the four-day session called the third plenum of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) Central Committee convened to discuss measures to improve the economy has accepted “Comrade Qin Gang’s resignation”.

Mr. Qin, 58, disappeared suddenly in 2023 from public view after serving as China’s shortest-serving Foreign Minister before being stripped of his remaining titles in the government.

The reason for his removal is still not known.

His whereabouts are also not known. However, while accepting his resignation, the Central Committee still referred to Mr. Qin as “Comrade”.

Mr. Qin was subsequently replaced by his predecessor Wang Yi who is also a member of the high-powered Politburo of the Party.

Earlier, Mr. Qin was stripped of his position as a state councillor and was allowed to resign as a member of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s Parliament.

The third plenum also confirmed the Politburo’s earlier decision to expel Gen. Li Shangfu and two other senior Generals of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Li Yuchao and Sun Jinming, from the Party.

Li Shangfu, who headed the country’s Rocket (Missile) Force before becoming Defence Minister, was being tried for alleged corruption.

Li Yuchao, who was also part of the Rocket Force, was sacked along with Li Shangfu.

The meeting also endorsed the decision of another top PLA, Gen. Sun Jinming, from the Party for corruption and indiscipline.

Official media reports say their removals highlighted the intensity of the ongoing anti-corruption campaign by President Xi Jinping to cleanse the military of corrupt elements. Mr. Xi, 71, is also the General Secretary of the CPC.

So far, over 50 military officials of various ranks have been removed or punished since Mr. Xi came to power in 2012.

Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng. File
| Photo Credit: AP

China is sending Vice-President Han Zheng to the U.N. General Assembly’s annual high-level debate, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on September 15, suggesting that the country’s most senior diplomat Wang Yi will not attend.

This year’s gathering of world leaders at United Nations headquarters in New York starts on Monday with a sustainability summit. The weeklong general debate gets under way on Tuesday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has not attended the U.N. session in person for several years. He participated via video-conference during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic.

Wang Yi attended last year and generally represented China at the U.N. Wang is the head of the foreign affairs committee of China’s Communist Party. He was not mentioned in the Ministry’s announcement.

Han is a past member of the Politburo Standing Committee, an elite group of leaders within the party. He retired from that position but assumed the position of Vice-President in March.

Han’s continued political career parallels the one of Wang Qishan, who played an influential role in the past several years in managing the tense U.S.-China relationship. Wang led the Communist Party’s disciplinary body and was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee. He retired at the end of 2017 but was brought back to serve as Vice-President in 2018.

The absence of Beijing’s top leader at the General Assembly may not be as conspicuous as Xi not attending the Group of 20 summit that took place in India earlier this month.

The British government announced in August that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would not attend the upcoming U.N. session. French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin also do not plan to be there.