Another Chinese minister disappeared from public view. Is this all Xi Jinping's plan?

 

When a Chinese official disappears from the public eye for a few weeks, you can be sure that news of his removal will spread very quickly. This was the case recently with the short-lived Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who was absent for several weeks and then replaced. And he was no longer seen in public. It is no different even with high-profile people from the Chinese business world, i.e. technological and business tycoons. That's how Jack Ma disappeared from the public, even from the basic documents of his holding company Aliban, even though he was a world-famous person. So in February, Bao Fan, the founder of China Renaissance Holdings, a financial institution with large investments specifically in the technology sector, disappeared.

 

And then realtor Ren Zhiqang. So Anbang investment bank chairman Wu Xiaohui. Some are under investigation for corruption, and even sentenced to high sentences, just like Xiaohui who got 18 years, or simply for criticizing Xi Jinping, like Ren Zhiqiang, who was also given 18 years. And so it is now with General Li Shangfu, the Minister of Defense, who has also not been seen for several weeks. The last time he was in public was on August 29, when he gave a speech at the China-Africa Peace and Security Forum.

He was abroad in mid-August, visiting Russia and Belarus, where he also met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The American government believes that it is under investigation, they have reasons, we stated them at the beginning of the text, the Financial Times cites senior Chinese officials as the sources of this claim. Last week Li, you note that in China the defense minister does not have to be a civilian, canceled a meeting with Vietnamese defense officials at the last minute. It was the usual annual meeting that Beijing canceled this time, according to Vietnamese sources. Rahm Emanuel, the American ambassador to the United States, vividly described those Chinese customs not as Byzantine, but more like those from Agatha Christie's novel Ten Little Soldiers (And Then There Were None).

If he is somewhat creative, the claim that Li did not appear at the meeting with the commander of the Singapore Navy because he was 'placed under house arrest' remained unsubstantiated, he did not state who the source of such information was. Also, Xi Jinping seems to be doing this with a plan, because in early August he dismissed the commanders of the missile forces, so General Li Yuchao was not seen in public for weeks before that and there was no explanation for it. It seems that the reason for Li Shangfu's move is the fight against corruption that has been going on in the Chinese People's Liberation Army for some time.

 

And that is what Xi has been doing since he came to power in 2013. This is nothing strange, because since he has been in power for more than ten years, Xi can only blame himself for the continuation of corruption in the army.

However, when looking at the overall fact that both the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Foreign Affairs were removed from office in a short period of time, it casts a special shadow on Xi's rule. Especially since Li was appointed minister in March of this year after spending a few months as the highest-ranking member of the Central Military Commission.

 

As the director of the department for the development of military equipment, he also fell under US sanctions due to the purchase of Russian military equipment. It should be mentioned that in the Chinese system the minister is not the highest-ranking official, he reports to the two vice presidents of the Central Military Commission who, in turn, report directly to Xi. Then again, he himself is one of the five state advisers who are ranked higher than ministers. However, Qin Gang is still the State Counselor and is nowhere to be found.