Following weeks of speculation, China removed Foreign Minister Qin Gang from his office on Tuesday following a one-month absence from public duties, replacing him with his predecessor Wang Yi, according to official media.
Qin, 57, who took over as envoy to the US in December, had not been seen in public since June 25, when he met with visiting diplomats in Beijing.
After missing an international diplomatic summit in Indonesia, his government later stated that he was absent for vague health reasons, but the lack of specifics fueled speculation.
According to analysts and diplomats, it has also increased skepticism about transparency and decision-making among the country’s cloistered leadership.
Wang Yi appointed as new Foreign Minister
Wang, 69, who stood in for Qin during his absence, returns to the position he held from 2018 to 2022.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the reasons for the change.
It comes amid a rush of overseas engagements and deteriorating ties with rival superpower the United States, which Beijing has labeled as the worst since diplomatic relations were established.
The world’s two largest economies are at odds over a variety of topics, including Ukraine and Beijing’s close relations with Moscow, trade and technology disputes, and Taiwan, a democratic, self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own.