The Chinese government quietly arrested and took away Liu Jianchao, a senior Chinese diplomat and strong contender to be the next foreign minister, for “questioning” in early August, reports indicated this week.
The curiously abrupt action against Liu that some reports alleged, if confirmed, would be the highest-level purge in China’s diplomatic corps in years.
Liu, 61, is a veteran foreign service officer who has been head of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee since 2022. Before that, was deputy director of the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention, serving as a top enforcer in “Operation Fox Hunt,” one of dictator Xi Jinping’s many politicized anti-corruption purges.
Until recently, the Oxford-educated Liu was the consensus choice among China-watchers to take over from Foreign Minister Wang Yi. His anti-corruption partnership with Xi suggested he enjoyed a high level of trust from the dictator and his friendly approach to Western diplomats made him an obvious choice to implement a less confrontational foreign policy approach, assuming Xi wanted to move in that direction.
When Liu led a major Chinese business and diplomatic delegation to the United States in January 2024, it seemed all but certain he would be the next to sit behind Wang’s desk at the foreign ministry. Observers also noted he was much more fond of traveling to Western countries than most senior Chinese officials, including Wang.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) proclaimed Liu the “shadow foreign minister,” noting he was more energetic at promoting Xi’s platform of “openness” and slamming the United States for so-called “unilateralism” than Wang. The sitting foreign minister could mouth Xi’s propaganda, but Liu seemed like he really believed it.
Liu is the highest-level Chinese diplomatic official to be investigated since Foreign Minister Qin Gang “disappeared” in September 2023. The regime in Beijing initially lied and said Qin was recuperating from health problems, but he had actually been purged because, rumors alleged, he had an embarrassing extramarital affair in the United States, where his mistress gave birth to a child.
Some analysts believe Liu’s star might have begun falling immediately after the 2024 trip that seemed like his informal debut as foreign-minister-in-waiting, possibly because he got a little ahead of himself and began telling his foreign contacts that he was a shoo-in for Wang’s job.
Liu might also have been sidelined by China’s relations with the United States turning sour, although dragging him off for “questioning” seems like an unnecessarily harsh way of setting aside his job application.
The Japan Times on Tuesday noted that Wang will turn 72 in October, putting him past the once-official retirement age for Chinese officials, and he is effectively handling two jobs, because he is also head of international affairs for the Chinese Communist Party.
If Liu Jianchao is out of the picture, the list of prospective successors to Wang seems thin, with few candidates who combine his seniority, diplomatic experience, charisma, and onetime closeness to Xi Jinping. The Japan Times suggested one possibility could be Hua Chunying, a former Foreign Ministry spokeswoman who has been on a fast career track since becoming a vice foreign minister in 2024.
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