Rumors of Affair and Child's Paternity Surround Foreign Minister's Absence
Several rumors surround Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang's ongoing absence from public appearances in China.
Qin Gang’s 秦刚 lack of appearances in three weeks caused intense speculation for his ongoing absence. While Chinese officials disappearing from the public for varying amount of time are not uncommon, there are several rumors for Qin’s disappearance.
Qin Gang’s 秦刚 lack of appearances in three weeks caused intense speculation for his ongoing absence. While Chinese officials disappearing from the public for varying amount of time are not uncommon, there are several rumors for Qin’s disappearance. While some do speculate that Qin is recovering from health issues, there are rumors of Qin having an affair with Fu Xiaotian 傅晓田, a famous Chinese reporter with Shenzhen-based Pheonix TV 鳳凰衛視投. There are also rumors that the affair produced a son, named Er-Kin.
Reasons for Qin’s Absence
The last time Qin met with anyone as Foreign Minister (FM) was his meeting with Sri Lankan FM Ali Sabry, Vietnamese FM Bui Thanh Son, and Russian Deputy FM Andrei Rudenko in Beijing on June 25th.
The last time Qin met with anyone as Foreign Minister (FM) was his meeting with Sri Lankan FM Ali Sabry, Vietnamese FM Bui Thanh Son, and Russian Deputy FM Andrei Rudenko in Beijing on June 25th. He then missed several important visits with foreign officials such as U.S. Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen in Beijing. The Foreign Ministry also canceled a lunch meeting with European Union (EU) ambassadors and a meeting with EU Foreign and Security Policy High Representative Josep Borrell in early July. However, speculation increased when Qin did not appear at the at the recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations FM meeting in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. Wang Yi 王毅, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee Foreign Affairs Commission Office director, attended the summit and met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken instead.
The Foreign Ministry attributed Qin’s absence to health reasons or sidestepped the questions. A reporter representing a foreign news service asked FM spokesperson Wang Wenbin 汪文斌 the following questions during the July 7th daily press conference:
"According to reports, officials in Brussels said that Qin Gang's disappearance from public view was due to health reasons. How does the Ministry of Foreign Affairs respond to this report? Will he attend the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting next week?"
Wang said ‘he haven’t heard of the situation you’re [the reporter] talking about’ in his reply to the reporter’s question about Qin’s absence due to ‘health reasons.’ However, he did say Qin will not attend the ASEAN meeting in Jakarta due to ‘physical reasons’ (‘health reasons’) during the July 11th daily press conference.
FM spokesperson Mao Ning 毛宁 sidestepped questions about Qin’s whereabouts but also recent news articles discussing the reasons for his disappearance during the daily press conference on July 18th. Mao said ‘I have no information to provide’ when a reporter asked about the Times article discussing the rumors the CCP is investigating Qin due to having an affair with Fu. She then suggested for the reporter to check the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website and that diplomatic activities are ‘proceeding normally.’
The FM did not include either the questions the reporters asked to Mao and Wang but also did not include their responses in the official readouts for July 7th, 11th, or the 18th. However, a Taiwanese TV station made a recording of the July 18th press conference is available on YouTube.
Speculation that Chinese leader Xi Jinping 习近平 dismissed Qin since his photo and profile was not a part of the senior officials on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. However, Qin – as his predecessors – has his own page devoted to both his photo, resume, recent remarks and activities, and vision statement.
Fu Xiaotian
Fu Xiaotian was born on June 12, 1983, in the Beibei district of the city of Chongqing to a revolutionary family who served in the (Chinese) Red Army. Fu received her a double bachelor’s degrees in English Language and Literature and Economics at Beijing Language and Culture University and Peking University 北大 in the early 2000s.
Fu Xiaotian was born on June 12, 1983, in the Beibei district of the city of Chongqing to a revolutionary family who served in the (Chinese) Red Army. Fu received her a double bachelor’s degrees in English Language and Literature and Economics at Beijing Language and Culture University and Peking University 北大 in the early 2000s. She then went to Churchill College, University of Cambridge, where she graduated with a Master of Arts in Philosophy degree. She joined Phoenix TV in 2009 as chief reporter and head of the company’s London bureau.
However, Fu went to Libya twice in 2011 to provide on the ground coverage of the Libyan Civil War, where she earned the nickname Desert Flower 沙漠之花.
In 2012, she moved to Phoenix TV’s Hong Kong headquarters, where she was promoted to senior reporter. She was able to travel to various countries and served as a special correspondent for news events and commentator for international conferences. Fu began hosting the Talk with World Leaders 风云对话 program, where she interviewed various world leaders such as former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Churchill College named a garden after her in 2016 due to her giving the College ‘generous gifts’ to support their efforts to advance education, learning, and research. She interviewed Qin as part of the program in Washington D.C. in March 2022, when he was the Chinese Ambassador to the United States.
Affair and Son
The rumors of the affair began when several Hong Kong and Taiwanese newspapers pointed out that she and her son, Er-Kin, also disappeared around the same time as Qin disappeared from public view.
The rumors of the affair began when several Hong Kong and Taiwanese newspapers pointed out that she and her son, Er-Kin, also disappeared around the same time as Qin disappeared from public view. Fu also made several posts on both her Weibo and Twitter accounts after Er-Kin’s birth, that point to Qin being his father.
For example, Fu made a Weibo post (first picture) on March 18th, wishing her son’s father happy birthday from a far due to him being on a ‘mission.’ Qin was with Xi to Russia on March 19th – converted the date and time from the post – which is also Qin’s birthday.
A post from March 12th (second picture) contains a picture of Er-Kin containing the message ‘meeting successfully concluded’ 胜利闭幕 embedded into his picture. The post also had the caption of ‘Let’s see who will still call me a foreign baby?’ 看你们谁还说我是外国宝宝. The post and the captions appeared on the same day the National People’s Congress elected Qin as State Councilor on the same day (March 12th).
Fu also reposted a post (third picture) from February 14th/Valentine’s Day 情人节 on March 11th saying the post about her hiking on a mountain in LA reminded her that her son was 100 days ago (indicating Er-Kin was born in early to mid- November 2022 and was conceived in late February to early March 2022). Qin was in LA in late February to visit Los Angeles International Airport and meet with the NBA’s Deputy Commissioner but it is not known whether Fu was in LA at the same time.
On April 10th, she made two separate posts (fourth and fifth pictures) on both her Twitter and Weibo about her and her son leaving the United States – via LA – on a private jet. She wrote how she remembers the last time she was on the jet, she traveled from LA to Washington D.C. and that it was a rainy spring night. She also mentioned she landed when the cherry blossoms were blooming (the blossoms bloom on the last week of March and first week of April). Fu also mentioned that she flew to D.C. for an interview for her job (host of Talk with World Leaders) and that she did not think it would be her last physical appearance on the program. Fu’s interview with Qin occurred around March 21st or 22nd, which aligns with the timeline indicated by the cherry blossoms blooming and when her interview with Qin occurred.
Analysis: The rumors about Qin’s affair with Fu and him being Er-Kin’s biological father are likely true. Fu made several posts to both her Wiebo and Twitter accounts indirectly stating that Qin is Er-Kin’s father. The most significant ones revolve around wishing her son’s father happy birthday and the post saying ‘missioned successfully completed’ with the caption no one will question if he is a foreign-born baby on the day Qin was elected State Councilor. The most interesting post reminding Fu Er-Kin was 100 days old on March 4th which indicates he was likely conceived when Qin and Fu were in LA in late February.
While Chinese officials disappearing from the public view for long amounts of time are not uncommon, there are several rumors that caused intense scrutiny. The most significant and most interesting are the ones involving Qin having an affair with Fu Xiaotian that produced a son. It is common knowledge that senior CCP officials – like Xi and Qin – have mistresses and illegitimate children from these affairs. However, it is also common for the CCP to use these affairs as an excuse to punish and purge party officials who fell out of their favor or as scapegoats who officials can blame for policy failures. While Wang and Mao not answering questions or saying they did not have any information could indicate Qin is in a lot of trouble, it is likely they are saying these things due to the opacity surrounding the CCP officials and party. The CCP does not like to answer questions about their leader’s or officials whereabouts, even if they are suffering from health issues because it indicates potential weakness within the party.