OPINION Fury and falsehood: Keating’s not entitled to his own version of history Peter Hartcher Political and international editor July 11, 2023 https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe...s-own-version-of-history-20230710-p5dn0h.html Like the witch at the christening, Paul Keating has burst in uninvited to put a spiteful curse on an auspicious occasion. Last time, it was Anthony Albanese’s summit with Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak to agree on the next steps in the AUKUS submarine deal. “The worst international decision by a Labor government” since conscription in 1917, cursed the former Labor leader. He damned Penny Wong and Richard Marles with special insults. Illustration by Andrew DysonCREDIT: On that occasion, a restrained Albanese dismissed Keating’s vituperation: “I don’t think that does anything other than diminish him.” That was in March. On Sunday, Keating struck again. “Supreme fool,” he shrieked at the secretary-general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg. He was “an accident on its way to happen”. The mild-mannered former prime minister of Norway resembles a banker more than a jester and probably was bewildered at this unprovoked insult from Australia. But Stoltenberg was just a proxy for his real target – the Albanese government and Albanese himself. Why? On Saturday evening, the prime minister’s office issued a statement announcing his trip to Germany and then on to Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, for a summit of the NATO leaders today and tomorrow. The lines that would’ve sent Keating’s blood pressure soaring were these: “Australia shares a commitment to peace and security with NATO allies and partners,” said the prime minister’s statement. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at last year’s NATO summit.CREDIT:ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN It was, said the statement, the second time Australia had been invited to a NATO summit as one of four Indo-Pacific partners. The other members of the so-called IP4 are Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. This Atlantic-Pacific embrace is becoming routine. A direct quote from Albanese was attached: “Australia’s presence at this forum is firmly in our national interest as we work together towards a peaceful and stable world.” And Keating must have noted media reports that Australia and NATO were about to unveil an upgraded partnership in Vilnius. It was on Sunday afternoon that Keating pressed “send” on his malediction, as the prime minister was winging towards Europe. Keating unleashed a tirade against Stoltenberg, against NATO, against the US, against Europe and against three centuries of European history, for good measure. Keating’s curses seem disproportionate to events. The Liberals’ home affairs spokesman, James Paterson, called his statement an “unhinged spray”. But Keating reacted so strongly for two understandable reasons. One, he has identified a profound change in global strategy. The autocratic partnership between China and Russia is a threat to democracy everywhere, and democracies have realised that they need to confront it everywhere. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has criticised Paul Keating’s attack on NATO and its leader Jens Stoltenberg.CREDIT:ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN AND SUPPLIED Lines on maps do not contain the threat. For example, Richard Marles explains why Ukraine’s fight is Australia’s fight: “There’s a degree to which they are doing it for us. From an Australian point of view, this is about the sanctity of the rules-based order – Russia’s flagrant disregard for it cannot be allowed to stand.” Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last year put it pithily: “Ukraine today could be East Asia tomorrow.” And his chief Cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Friday that the Japanese leader’s decision to join the NATO summit shows that “security in the Indo-Pacific and Europe is inseparable”. This concept increasingly is accepted as the new orthodoxy in Europe. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius last month said: “We must defend the rules-based order wherever it is challenged,” and “we must stand up for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea”. This is the convention that Beijing trampled in asserting its unlawful claim to ownership of South China Sea maritime territories also claimed by its neighbours. In 2019, the European Union made headlines when it defined China as a “systemic rival” promoting “an alternative vision of the world order”. And NATO last year crossed a threshold by publishing a strategy that said, “the People’s Republic of China’s stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values”. This year, the EU’s de facto foreign affairs minister, Josep Borrell, said: “Yes, in Europe we have a war in our borders, but the epicentre – the core of the global competition – is in the Indo-Pacific; it’s here.” As Keating noted, Stoltenberg in February said that “war in Ukraine has made clear the danger of over-reliance on authoritarian regimes” and that “we should not make the same mistakes with China”. The number of NATO nations deploying some naval assets to the Indo-Pacific continues to grow. Patrols by Britain, France and Germany are about to be joined by Canadian vessels. NATO, in other words, is giving concrete expression to a new conceptualisation of its security as indivisible from that of the Indo-Pacific. And, two, Paul Keating is incensed by it. In the 1990s he was captivated by the vision that China inevitably must rise to assume mastery of the Asia-Pacific and force the US out of the western Pacific. He has predicted it, advocated it, cheered it for decades. This explains his frantic attacks on the US and Australia and now on Europe in general and NATO in particular. “The Europeans have been fighting each other for the better part of three hundred years,” wrote Keating on Sunday, and “exporting that malicious poison to Asia would be akin to Asia welcoming the plague upon itself.” He contrasted these fratricidal Euro-berserkers with a romantic fiction of China which, he said, “has no record of attacking other states”. Keating may have understandable reasons for his reactions to world affairs, but that does not give him licence to make up his own version of history. Postwar Europe has been an exemplar of peace. It bears no resemblance to the Europe of centuries past. As for a China that has no record of attacking other states, Keating is spouting Chinese Communist Party propaganda which also happens to be false. Two words and two dates for starters, Paul – Vietnam, 1979 and India, 1962. Keating reliably defends the Chinese Communist Party over the Australian Labor Party, but at the very least you’d think he’d try to stick broadly with the facts. Fury and falsehood are evidence of an impotent rage.
NATO rebukes China for cosying up to Russia Hans van Leeuwen Europe correspondent Jul 12, 2023 Vilnius | NATO has issued a formal rebuke to Beijing for its support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and warned that China’s malicious cyber attacks and disinformation were “harming alliance security”. NATO’s alarm over “the systemic challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China to Euro-Atlantic security” came on the eve of a meeting between the leaders from the 31 alliance countries and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his counterparts from Japan, Korea and New Zealand. “What we’ve come to say is that our nations based in the Indo-Pacific believe in the rule of law, that we support national sovereignty, that we support multilateral forums,” Mr Albanese told reporters ahead of his address to the summit late on Wednesday (AEST). On the same page ... Anthony Albanese with NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg. AP NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has been increasingly pushing for the trans-Atlantic alliance to pay more strategic attention to China’s rise, as Beijing’s authoritarianism and assertiveness begin to challenge Western values and interests. Some NATO leaders, particularly French President Emmanuel Macron, argue that the alliance should keep its effort focused strictly on its immediate geography. But Mr Albanese has been making the case, like Mr Stoltenberg, that the major security challenges in the two regions are interdependent. “The Indo-Pacific is important for NATO, given that developments in that region can directly affect Euro-Atlantic security,” the NATO leaders said in a summit communiqué released late on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST). The more hawkish China voices appear to have seized the pen on the communiqué, which declares that “the People’s Republic of China’s stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values”. The document says that China deploys “a broad range of political, economic, and military tools to increase its global footprint and project power” but remains “opaque about its strategy, intentions and military build-up”. The leaders fretted about Beijing’s economic coercion and its attempts to “control key technological and industrial sectors, critical infrastructure, and strategic materials and supply chains”. Like Russia, China “tries to subvert the international rules-based order”. The two countries’ growing partnership helps to “mutually reinforce” their respective campaigns of subversion. NATO leaders, particularly French President Emmanuel Macron, argue that the alliance should keep its effort focused strictly on its immediate geography. Getty NATO leaders urged China to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and refrain from supporting it rhetorically or with lethal aid. It also urged China to respect the United Nations Charter and to “cease amplifying Russia’s false narrative blaming Ukraine and NATO for Russia’s war of aggression”. But they also left the door open to “constructive engagement with the PRC, including to build reciprocal transparency”. In the meantime, the alliance would bolster its “awareness, resilience and preparedness” in the face of China’s tactics. Later in the communique, the NATO leaders also voiced concern about China’s rapid nuclear arms build-up, which came while “failing to engage in meaningful transparency or good faith efforts to achieve nuclear arms control or risk reduction”. The document also addressed the use of cyber and disinformation, known as “hybrid threats”, without naming China and Russia. It warned that “hybrid operations against allies could reach the level of an armed attack and could lead the Council to invoke Article 5 of the Washington Treaty” – the requirement that all NATO members respond with appropriate force to an attack on any one of them. The leaders “welcome the contribution of our partners in the Asia-Pacific region – Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea – to security in the Euro-Atlantic, including their commitment to supporting Ukraine”. “We will further strengthen our dialogue and cooperation to tackle our shared security challenges, including on cyber defence, technology and hybrid, underpinned by our shared commitment to upholding international law and the rules-based international order,” the communiqué said. Australia has already upgraded its relationship with NATO to an “individually tailored partnership program”, which structures cooperation in areas such as cyber and military interoperability. Japan, New Zealand and Korea are doing the same.
‘Reliable brothers’: China, Solomon Islands boost ties David Brunnstrom Jul 11, 2023 https://www.afr.com/world/asia/reliable-brothers-china-solomon-islands-boost-ties-20230711-p5dnhi Washington | China and the Solomon Islands have signed a deal on police cooperation as part of an upgrade of their relations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”, four years after the Pacific nation switched ties from Taiwan to China. The police cooperation pact was among nine deals signed after Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Monday, underlining his nation’s foreign policy shift. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in Beijing this week. Reuters Mr Sogavare arrived in China for his first visit since the two countries struck a security pact last year, to the alarm of the United States and neighbours including Australia. “In just four years, the relationship between China and the Solomon Islands has developed rapidly, and we can now say that it is very fruitful,” Mr Li told Mr Sogavare. Mr Sogavare, in turn, thanked China for its role in addressing global challenges including peace and sustainable development. He added that his country had “a lot to learn” from China’s experience. A spokesperson for the US National Security Council said Washington “respects the ability of nations to make sovereign decisions in the best interests of their people” while encouraging the sides “to release these texts immediately to increase transparency and inform discussions about the impacts of these agreements on regional security”. The official added that the US was committed to a strong relationship with the region and strengthening longstanding bonds with the people of Solomon Islands. Mr Sogavare switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing when he came to power in 2019. Beijing claims democratically governed Taiwan as part of its own territory. Last month, Mr Sogavare called for a review of a 2017 security treaty with Australia, which has historically provided policing support to the Solomon Islands, including the rapid deployment of police in 2021 to quell riots, although China has increased its police training there. China will continue to provide assistance to the Solomon Islands to enhance its law enforcement capacity, according to a joint statement released by China’s official Xinhua news agency. It urged “relevant countries” to “prudently” handle issues such as the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea and cooperation on nuclear submarines, in a thinly veiled swipe at Japan and AUKUS, the alliance among Australia, the United States and Britain. Mr Sogavare also met China’s President Xi Jinping on Monday afternoon and the two agreed to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership, according to Chinese state television. “China and Pacific island countries are both developing countries and should strengthen mutual assistance within the framework of South-South cooperation,” Mr Xi said in the meeting. China has long supported so-called South-South cooperation, which refers to co-operation between developing nations as equals for mutual benefit. Describing the two countries as “trustworthy friends and reliable brothers”, Mr Xi said China-Solomon Islands ties have set a “good example of solidarity and co-operation” between countries of different sizes and between developing nations. Mr Xi told Mr Sogavare China supports more of its firms investing in the Solomon Islands and will continue to provide economic and technical assistance “without political strings attached”. Mr Sogavare’s office highlighted “quality infrastructure” as an area that the country needs for economic empowerment to eradicate poverty. Chinese telecoms giant Huawei is already building a cellular network in the Solomon Islands, financed by a $US66 million Chinese EXIM bank loan. A Chinese state company will also redevelop the port in the capital Honiara.
China reacts to NATO criticism, warns of ‘resolute response’ July 12, 2023 https://english.nv.ua/nation/china-reacts-to-nato-criticism-warns-of-resolute-response-50338364.html Flag of China (PhotoPPSDavid / Pixabay) NATO’s accusation in a summit communique that China challenges the bloc’s interests and security received a strongly worded statement in response on July 11, with Beijing claiming the defense alliance was “spreading its tentacles to the Asia-Pacific region.” The Chinese mission to the European Union said that the China-related content of the NATO Vilnius summit communique disregarded basic facts, distorted China’s position and policies, and deliberately discredited China. “We firmly oppose and reject this,” it said. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters at the summit that while China was not a NATO “adversary,” it was increasingly challenging the rules-based international order with its “coercive behavior.” “China is increasingly challenging the rules-based international order, refusing to condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine, threatening Taiwan, and carrying out a substantial military build-up,” Soltenberg said. In the communique, NATO said China seeks to control key technological and industrial sectors, critical infrastructure, and strategic materials and supply chains around the world, and that Beijing has also used its economic leverage to create strategic dependencies and enhance its influence. “The People’s Republic of China employs a broad range of political, economic, and military tools to increase its global footprint and project power, while remaining opaque about its strategy, intentions and military build-up,” the NATO communique said. “The PRC’s malicious hybrid and cyber operations and its confrontational rhetoric and disinformation target allies and harm alliance security.” In turn, the Chinese mission said China resolutely opposed NATO’s “eastward movement into the Asia-Pacific region” and warned any action threatening Beijing’s rights would be met with a resolute response. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency also hit back, saying in a report that the wars and conflicts involving NATO states suggest the bloc is a “grave challenge” to global peace and stability. “Despite all the chaos and conflict already inflicted, NATO is spreading its tentacles to the Asia-Pacific region with an express aim of containing China,” the state media agency stated. In May, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Japan had no plans to become a NATO member, even though NATO was planning to open a Tokyo office, its first in Asia, to facilitate consultations in the region.
China relations Opinion China, not NATO, is militarising Asia The Solomon Islands “strategic partnership” with Beijing should disturb anyone who values peace. It also justifies Australia’s increased engagement with Europe’s key security alliance. Misha Zelinsky Columnist Jul 20, 2023 https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/china-not-nato-is-militarising-asia-20230717-p5doqn Just as Anthony Albanese was touching down in Vilnius to discuss global security at NATO last week, a very different meeting was under way in Beijing with profound implications for Australia. The decision by Solomon Islands to elevate its relationship with China to a “strategic partnership” should disturb anyone who values peace. It also justifies Australia’s increased engagement with NATO and other democratic allies. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in Beijing last week. Reuters After a week of royal treatment by China’s rulers, Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare signed nine agreements deepening his country’s “law enforcement and security” relationship with the People’s Republic of China. For years, Chinese Communist Party supreme leader Xi Jinping has sought a military toehold in the Pacific. Thanks to Sogavare’s signature, Xi is one step closer to having Chinese military ships patrolling Australia’s north-eastern approaches. Although nations are free to make bilateral arrangements, Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, was right to demand transparency in any security deals between a country occupying Australia’s naval approaches and a totalitarian superpower that is actively punishing Australia for exercising its own sovereignty. “unneighbourly” and “coercive”, before asserting that it had short-changed Solomon Islands millions in promised aid dollars. ‘Only nine hours’ flight’ Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs rejected the claim, stating that $40 million in aid had gone to Honiara, along with another $40 million for the election and hosting of the Pacific Games. Nevertheless, Sogavare expressed his “delight” that China had “stepped up” to fill supposed gaps in his government’s budget. According to him, should he need help – provided by Australia as recently as 2021 – in dealing with civil unrest, “it takes only nine hours’ flight from China to land forces here”. Sogavare was describing peace-keepers, but given China is building a deep-sea port in his capital, he might consider what else Xi could send if the mood strikes. And it’s only three hours from Honiara to Brisbane. Sogavare claims Australia remains the “partner of choice” for Solomon Islands and he is clearly extracting what he can from geopolitical competition. Sogavare’s government is rife with alleged corruption and democratic backsliding, so his CCP toadying is unsurprising. But given Imperial Japan specifically sought to dominate Solomon Islands during World War II to choke Australia off from the world, Australians are right to worry about what Sogavare is trading away. If China turns the “Blue Pacific Continent” into a modern Middle East, where nations compete for influence and access to vast undersea riches, the world will be much more dangerous. While the Albanese government must continue its improved engagement with its Pacific neighbours, Sogavare’s deal highlights exactly why the Australian prime minister attended NATO, along with other members of the “IndoPac Four”; New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. NATO’s 31 members were obviously preoccupied with helping Ukraine resist Russia’s invasion. But while Europe’s biggest land war in 80 years dominated discussions, China’s assertive behaviour was top of mind. During a recent trip to Japan, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg described the concerns democracies had with Xi’s China. “China is substantially building up its military forces including nuclear weapons, bullying its neighbours and threatening Taiwan, trying to control critical infrastructure and spreading misinformation about NATO and the war in Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said. China is a different beast Why would the head of Europe’s key security alliance say this? Because while a nuclear-armed Russia can destroy the world, Vladimir Putin’s failure to capture Eastern Ukraine proves he can never remake it in his image. Xi’s China is a different beast altogether. Xi has plans – and the means – to create a world safe for Chinese authoritarianism. And he’s busily doing so. Stoltenberg understands the best chance democracies have in resisting Xi’s dystopian vision is by working together. So, while NATO was traditionally a defensive military alliance against Soviet – and now Russian – aggression, it is becoming the platform for democratic coordination against the ambitions of the Dictators Club. Although Xi and Putin sympathisers assert otherwise, it wasn’t “military hawks” who linked Europe’s theatre of war with the struggle for an open Indo-Pacific. Xi and Putin did this themselves via their “partnership of no limits”. Given Russia’s invasion happened while the agreement’s ink was still drying, the world noticed and has responded accordingly. Anyone doubting how China’s duchessing of Sogavare is linked to Russia’s brutalising of innocent Ukrainians need not take my word for it, or NATO’s — they should listen to Xi and Putin who repeatedly declare their intentions to tear down the rules-based order and their contempt for “The West”, including Australia. Unfortunately, denying the reality of what Xi and Putin are up to won’t make it less true. If, as critics contend, the idea of NATO opening a shopfront in Tokyo is bringing European militarism to Asia, then what are we to make of the regime responsible for the largest military build-up since WWII planning a naval base on Australia’s coastline? And how should democracies respond? The truth is, strength in numbers is the best deterrent we have against aggressive bad guys. There’s a reason why Sweden and Finland immediately joined NATO after Putin’s invasion, and why Putin – despite his tough talk – hasn’t dared touch NATO soil. Democratic solidarity also explains why Xi hates The Quad and AUKUS. With the Dictators Club holding hands, Australia needs like-minded friends to protect itself. Where they’re located on a map doesn’t matter.
https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/In...racle-Fading-A-Look-At-The-Hurdles-Ahead.html Is China's Economic Miracle Fading? A Look At The Hurdles Ahead
China is erasing mention of its former foreign minister. But it still hasn’t said why Analysis by Simone McCarthy Wed July 26, 2023 http://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/26/c...ministry-qin-gang-wang-yi-intl-hnk/index.html Five weeks ago, the world watched as China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Beijing for high stakes talks between the two powers. But anyone looking for reference to that important event on the website of China’s Foreign Ministry will be disappointed, as that meeting – and all of Qin’s activities as Foreign Minister – has been erased from the record following a head-spinning leadership shake-up Tuesday that saw Qin abruptly replaced by his predecessor Wang Yi. The shock ouster, approved by a top body within China’s rubber-stamp legislature, had followed weeks of questions and speculation about Qin’s fate after he disappeared from public view in late June, without a clear explanation. The latest twist in the saga – the complete erasure of Qin’s swift, six-month tenure as Foreign Minister and his replacement by Wang, who held that post for roughly a decade before a promotion late last year – only serves to deepen the mystery. Qin’s whereabouts, the reason for his removal, and his ultimate fate as a member of China’s Communist Party all remain unknown. Unanswered questions about official decision-making are standard in China, where the political system is notoriously opaque and has only become more so under Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Senior Chinese officials have disappeared from public view in the past only to turn up months later in announcements they’ve been under secret disciplinary investigation. But the circumstances that have played out in recent weeks surrounding Qin – widely seen as a trusted aide of Xi and one of China’s most recognizable officials as the face of its foreign policy and a former ambassador to the US – has brought those features of China’s political system into the global spotlight. “The lack of transparency is already a well known issue for the Chinese bureaucracy. And decisions are fine until they are not. And when they are not, it usually creates much bigger trouble for the system,” said Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center. “The swift replacement does not reflect well on Xi for sure. At the minimum, people will be questioning what went wrong and made the replacement necessary. But it also suggests that the cause must be grave for (Qin) to be removed,” she added. Meanwhile, the timing of the episode, as China has been campaigning to present its leadership as an appealing alternative to that of the West, only ups the potentially damaging optics. “Qin’s removal will reinforce perceptions abroad that the Communist Party is an opaque and unreliable diplomatic partner … (and) do no favors for Beijing’s international efforts to portray its governance system as worthy of praise and emulation,” said Neil Thomas, a fellow for Chinese Politics at Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. What this means for China, and Xi Qin’s appointment to the post of Foreign Minister last year over more experienced candidates was seen as a sign of deep trust bestowed on him by Xi, who stacked China’s leadership with his close allies as he consolidated power last year while entering a norm-breaking third term as leader. “It is widely believed that Xi has a very small inner circle of people that he consults, and on top of that is over confident and makes decisions based on his own instincts,” said Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific program. “Qin is his protege, and therefore this will necessarily reflect badly on Xi. However, that doesn’t mean that this episode will pose a challenge to his power,” she said. As the news of the leadership changes were flashed by Chinese state media Tuesday evening, China’s vast apparatus for controlling public discussion around political and social events moved into gear. China's new Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, and ousted minister Qin Gang, left. Xi Jinping's foreign minister ousted after month-long unexplained absence from public view Social media hashtags relating to Qin’s removal were censored on the popular Chinese social media app Weibo, including at least one that aimed to evade censors by discussing the decision under a hashtag about a television show set around the time of China’s ancient Qin dynasty. Meanwhile, hashtags about Wang’s appointment remained live on the platform Wednesday morning, but were only showing posts from verified accounts, largely state media or government agencies, without any user generated comments visible. “It is likely that the official media outlets will propagate the idea that the top leadership is wise in removing a senior official who had been trusted and henceforth was found making mistakes,” said Li Mingjiang, an associate professor of international relations at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. Depending on what further information comes about Qin’s circumstances, Chinese media “can always spin around to say that this is an example of the Party’s determination to take strict disciplinary actions whenever a senior official is found of doing things wrong,” he added. It remains unclear when, or if, further information will be released about the reasons for Qin’s removal, and that void in information has been filled with rampant rumor and speculation. When asked earlier this month about why Qin had missed a diplomatic gathering, a ministry spokesperson cited “health reasons.” During a regular ministry briefing Wednesday, a spokesperson refused to provide information on why Qin was replaced and said the ministry website was “updated in accordance with the relevant regulations,” when asked why records of Qin’s time as foreign minister were removed. Qin for now appears to have retained his domestic-facing, high-level administrative post as State Councilor. But observers of elite Chinese politics say that the silence around why he has been replaced and his erasure from the ministry website point to political reasons, which could become clear in coming months if there is an official announcement of an investigation against him. “Beijing is reserving the flexibility to decide on their stories later. I don’t think an announcement about what happened will happen anytime soon. Beijing will wait till people almost forgot about it to avoid more attention,” said Sun in Washington. ‘Safe hands’ The Foreign Ministry shake-up comes at a particularly sensitive time in China’s international relations. Beijing is seeking to stabilize fractious relations with the United States and woo back a Europe that has been increasingly suspicious of China’s close ties to Russia as it wages war on Ukraine. And while Qin’s mysterious disappearance and ousting makes for awkward international optics, it also places China’s foreign policy back in the hands of a seasoned veteran who filled the role from 2013 to 2022. When asked about Qin and Wang in a press briefing Tuesday, American diplomat Blinken said the US would engage with “whoever the relevant Chinese counterparts” are in order to manage the US-China relationship. “I’ve also known Wang Yi for more than a decade. I’ve met with him repeatedly in my current capacity as Secretary of State and including just recently in Jakarta and I anticipate being able to work well with him as we have in the past,” Blinken said, noting that he “wished (Qin) well.” China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang has not been seen in public for three weeks. Xi Jinping's foreign minister has vanished from public view. His prolonged absence is driving intense speculation Wang in recent years has been known for his combative “wolf warrior” stance, but has also been seen as a smooth operator, regularly dispatched to tackle China’s thorniest diplomatic issues and meet with close allies, including a February trip to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kept on by Xi despite having reached the standard retirement age during a five-yearly leadership reshuffle last October, he was promoted late last year to the role of China’s top diplomat, overseeing the foreign affairs arm of the ruling Communist Party (a separate and distinct body from that of the government foreign ministry). It appears he’ll now fill that post and his old one – an arrangement that Asia Society’s Thomas suggests could be temporary while also allowing Wang to navigate a period of months that could see Xi visit the US in November for an economic summit. His appointment, however, overlooks an ample bench of potential candidates, according to Victor Shih, director of the University of California San Diego’s 21st Century China Center, which “suggests that the top leadership is unsure of a good replacement and opted for a safe option and a pair of steady hands.” “This desire might give us a hint of what exactly happened to Qin Gang,” he said.
Inside China Chinese Foreign Ministry scrubs missing minister from its records By Eryk Bagshaw July 26, 2023 https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/c...inister-from-its-records-20230726-p5drf2.html China’s Foreign Ministry has removed all mention of Qin Gang from its online records, purging the former foreign minister’s name and his meetings with world leaders. It follows President Xi Jinping’s decision to sack Qin from his role on Tuesday night after rumours ranging from illness to an extramarital affair with a high-profile TV presenter, to a power struggle at the top of the Chinese Communist Party, dogged the rising former ambassador to the United States. Until his demise, Qin Gang was one of the Chinese president’s proteges. Credit: AP An emergency session of the standing committee on Tuesday voted on the “decision on official appointment and removal” but no reasons were given for Qin’s disappearance. Qin, who has not been seen for a month, has not commented publicly on the dismissal. But his six months as foreign minister has now disappeared from official records, including his meetings with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in March, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in May and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June. Chinese government censors worked fast to remove all information, transcripts and photos of the relatively moderate former minister from the foreign ministry website by early Wednesday morning. Penny Wong with her former Chinese counterpart, Qin Gang. “It reflects how opaque the public personnel and public governance is in China,” said Alfred Wu, an expert in Chinese politics from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. “It’s embarrassing for China.” Wu said Beijing still did not want to announce the real reason for Qin’s dismissal. “The situation is even worse because of one-man politics,” he said. “So, everything needs to wait for Xi Jinping’s decision.” Until his demise, Qin was one of the Chinese president’s proteges. Xi had promoted him from foreign ministry spokesman to personal aide to US Ambassador and finally to foreign minister. The 57-year-old’s rapid rise sidelined the foreign ministry, which had historically expected senior ministers to serve their time in more junior roles, but it was enabled by Xi who has wielded unprecedented power over all ministerial appointments. Qin has yet to be removed from his second post as state councillor, a title applied to high-ranking officials in the Chinese government executive, equivalent to a cabinet. Wen-Ti Sung, a Chinese political scientist at the Australian National University suggested it may be a signal that he is in professional trouble but “not politically dead yet”. Sung said keeping Qin in the state councillor role could signal that Beijing still does not know the result of an active investigation into his activities while ensuring that there is someone capable of filling the foreign minister role to meet other world leaders. “[For] foreigners, almost nobody knows what a ‘state councillor’ is. But almost every single human on earth understands what a foreign minister is,” said Sung. “China not having one makes it look bad on a daily basis.” Wang Yi, Qin’s predecessor has been re-appointed as foreign minister. The 69-year-old veteran served in the role for a decade before being promoted to director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, China’s top diplomatic position. Wang Yi with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.Credit: AFP The move means he will hold Beijing’s top two diplomatic posts, but he is well-known by foreign governments including Australia. Wong, who met with Wang in Beijing in December, was contacted for comment.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/26/economy/china-youth-unemployment-intl-hnk/index.html Young Chinese are getting paid to be ‘full-time children’ as jobs become harder to find