Although Li was not mentioned in official media, analysts said the rapid purges of the two ministers pointed to problems beneath the surface in Xi’s government.
De belangrijkste opmerking uit onderstaand artikel.
Wat speelt er achter de schermen in China na het ontslag van twee ministers van defensie in zo korte termijn?
Then there were two more: The disappearance of the second Chinese minister sparks speculation
Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu told a China-Africa security forum in Beijing last month that the world was entering a new phase of “instability.”
Just over two weeks later, officials and experts outside China are raising questions about the stability of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Cabinet after Li became the second senior minister to disappear from public view with little or no explanation in less than two months.
U.S. officials told the Financial Times they believed Li had been removed from office in a pattern that appeared to be similar to that of former Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who mysteriously disappeared in June and officially disappeared a month later was replaced. His fate is unknown.
“As Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, ‘There is something rotten in the state of Denmark,'” U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.
A week earlier, Emanuel wrote that China’s government “now resembles an Agatha Christie novel.” And then there were no more“.
While senior Chinese officials are regularly fired for corruption, analysts say two cabinet ministers have not disappeared in this way in recent decades, especially not in such quick succession.
Their situation – which comes just six months after Xi announced his new Cabinet as part of the inauguration of his third five-year term – reinforces the impression that decision-making comes at a moment when China is struggling to revive domestic and political dynamics , becomes even more opaque Foreign investors’ confidence in the ailing economy has increased.