Former defence minister Li Shangfu was expelled from Communist Party in June on bribery charges. Former foreign minister Qin Gang was abruptly dismissed in July last year.
Li Shangfu & Qin Gang have not appeared in public for over 6 months. Li’s name as a member of communist party's military commission is gone from MoD site. Qin resigned from legislature.
Qin's unusually long & unexplained absence, his abruptly cut-short tenure, as well as other strange happenings like the ministry's website, mean speculation will continue to swirl.
Qin Gang, often referred to as ‘Warrior Gang’ at Chinese foreign ministry, was one of China's youngest foreign ministers. He has been replaced by his predecessor Wang Yi.
Qin was missing from public eye since 25 June. The Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection is said to have questioned him on his alleged affair.
Bilateral meeting took place at resort in Goa ahead of Friday's Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
While not mentioning India even once, Qin said a ‘Ukraine-style crisis’ should not be repeated in Asia. Mishandling of Taiwan will shake foundation of US-China ties, he warned.
Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Spain & Croatia as well as WTO director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala arrived in the capital Thursday to participate in the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting.
From Munir’s point of view, a few bumps here and there is par for the course. He isn’t going to drive his dumper truck to its doom. He wants to use it as a weapon.
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