INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW DELHI: China's foreign minister Qin Gang was removed from office on Tuesday, state media reported.Qin -- considered a rising star of
Chinese politics -- has not been seen in public for a month, sparking rumors of scandal and political frictions.Wang Yi back as foreign
ministerChina's Global Times news portal said the country's top legislature convened a session on Tuesday where it was decided that Qin
would be removed from his position as foreign minister.Wang Yi, Qin's predecessor, has again been appointed as foreign minister.Qin, 57, who
became one of China's youngest foreign ministers when he took up the post in December 2022 after a stint as envoy to the United States, has
not been seen in public since June 25, when he met with visiting officials from Sri Lanka, Russia and Vietnam.Information blackoutQin since
vanished from state media and comments about him have been excised from readouts of foreign ministry briefings.His ministry later said he
was off work for unspecified health reasons, but the lack of detailed information fuelled a swirl of speculation.His 23-day absence has seen
Qin skip major diplomatic engagements, such as an international gathering of foreign ministers in Indonesia last week.The vacuum of
economy has limited access to corporate data, court documents, academic journals and raided expert networks serving businesses, hampering
President Xi was the last member of the G20 leaders to reveal his vaccination status during the Covid-19 pandemic, not making the
information public until July 2022.Extended absences have foreshadowed the end of a career before in China.Xiao Yaqing, former minister of
industry and information technology, vanished from government readouts and official media coverage for 21 days last year, before it was
