Senior Chinese officials were informed that former foreign minister Qin Gang was dismissed for “lifestyle issues”, which is a common party expression for sexual misconduct, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday (Sept 19), which alleged that Qin had an extramarital affair when he was Beijing’s top envoy in Washington from July 2001 to January this year “that led to the birth of a child in the US”.
China’s scrutiny of senior officials has focused on individuals dealing with foreigners and top military figures, such as Defence Minister Li Shangfu, who was taken away for questioning in recent weeks, plus leaders of the PLA rocket force who were dismissed in July, according to the report, which noted that all these appointments were approved by Xi and have undermined his efforts to show Chinese governance is more stable or better than western nations.
Read the full report: Wall Street Journal.
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