China’s foreign minister, not seen for weeks, is absent from ASEAN

Written by Yu Lun Tian and Karen Lima

(Reuters) – Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Gang will not attend a diplomatic gathering in Indonesia as expected this week, sources familiar with the matter said, extending an unexplained public absence that has lasted more than two weeks.

Three sources, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the media, said senior diplomat Wang Yi will represent China at the meetings in Jakarta instead.

The foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China are scheduled to meet on Thursday, ahead of Friday’s East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum.

Chen, 57, took over from Wang as foreign minister in December and was last seen in public on June 25 in Beijing after meeting officials from Sri Lanka, Russia and Vietnam.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not respond to an inquiry about Chen’s whereabouts.

His absence did not go unnoticed.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin was asked last Friday about an article in US political news website Politico that cited speculation that health problems may be behind Chen’s absence. He said he had “not heard” of the report.

An EU spokesperson said Chen was supposed to meet EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell last week in Beijing, but the meeting was postponed after China told the EU that the dates were “no longer possible”.

The EU was informed of the delay just two days before Borrell’s scheduled arrival on July 5, according to a source familiar with the plans.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to attend the meetings in Jakarta this week, marking another opportunity for talks with China as Washington seeks to lay the groundwork in the tense relations between the major powers.

Blinken met Chen and Wang Yi in Beijing last month, the first visit to China by a US secretary of state in five years.

Wang Yi, the foreign policy chief of the Chinese Communist Party, ranks above Chen, who as the government’s foreign policy chief holds the post of foreign minister.

(Reporting by Yu Lun Tian in Beijing, Karen Lima in Manila, and Stanley Widianto in Jakarta; Writing by Martin Beatty and John Gede; Editing by Robert Purcell)