Posted on 12/16/2023 5:11:00 AM PST by FarCenter
Regardless, China-Russia relations grew more strained than outsiders might imagine, with Russia finally taking a big gamble: It would drop an informational bomb on Beijing. The subject of that information was then Foreign Minister Qin, who had been tapped for the post by Xi.
It's easy to see what might have motivated Russia. Being China's top diplomat, Qin would have been the person responsible for sending the Chinese delegation to Ukraine.
Russia labeled Qin as pro-U.S. as he had served as ambassador to the U.S. for a short period before being tapped as foreign minister. So it "passed on internal information to Beijing's upper echelons that Qin was strongly suspected to be a spy for the U.S.," another source familiar with China-Russia relations said. The tip-off likely came with some "evidence," this source added.
May and June was a terrible time for Russia. In June, Wagner, a Russian private military organization led by the late Yevgeny Prigozhin, launched a short-lived rebellion against the country's military establishment. Prigozhin, who should have been one of Putin's closest aides, died in a plane crash in August.
A woman mourns next to a makeshift memorial for Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, as people mark 40 days since his death to respect an Orthodox tradition, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on Oct. 1. © Reuters The June 23-24 mutiny took place right before Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko made a surprise visit to China.
Rudenko met with Qin on June 25. It would be Qin's last public appearance as foreign minister, and he would be removed from that post one month later.
What "evidence" did Russia present to China?
Most likely, it had to do with Qin's extramarital affair with a high-profile Chinese TV presenter.
The affair, revealed to the world by Western media after Qin's dismissal, attracted tremendous attention. According to reports, Qin had a child with the TV presenter with the help of a surrogate mother in the U.S.
Russia focused on this scandal as well as on the woman, who had lived in the U.K. and U.S.
After Qin's disappearance, China quickly returned to its pro-Moscow stance in terms of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. China also stopped publicly expressing its intention to mediate a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
In a likely sign of appreciation for Beijing's change of heart, Putin visited China in October to attend an international conference marking the 10th anniversary of Xi's pet Belt and Road Initiative.
On the surface, it looks like China-Russia relations, including military cooperation, are back on track. But careful observations of the fierce tug-of-war that played out during the past six months show their second honeymoon is not all bliss and euphoria.
With the eyes of the world currently fixed on the war between Israel and Hamas, Russia's war on Ukraine is not drawing as much attention as it used to. For Russia, this is a welcome turn of events.
Earlier this month, likely seeing that the timing was finally right, Putin declared his candidacy for Russia's presidential election in March.
But it remains unclear why China accepted Russia's assertion, which can be seen as interference in its internal affairs. It is not uncommon for senior Chinese officials to have extramarital affairs. But there are not many cases of officials being dismissed for such transgressions.
In Qin's case, though, Beijing likely followed up on Russia's tip and found serious issues that went well beyond a mere love affair.
Because it was also related to China-U.S. relations, the scandal eventually exploded within the Chinese Communist Party. China attaches greater importance to its ties with the U.S. than it does to those with any other country.
Armed with the information from Russia, China's upper echelons could not help but think Qin's lover might have passed intelligence regarding domestic political issues to Washington. If this did indeed occur, it could severely damage Xi's reputation.
Qin once served as director of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Protocol Department. He always accompanied Xi to diplomatic events at home and abroad.
He was tapped as China's ambassador to the U.S. and then, at the unusually young age of 57, as its foreign minister. This helped Qin be seen as Xi's close aide.
Qin is also believed to have been familiar with aspects of Xi's private life, and Xi's closest aides likely thought they could not afford to retain Qin ahead of the U.S.-China summit.
The Qin issue is so grave that it cannot be talked about frankly even within the party. Party leaders are under a strict gag order and the internal explanation to other senior party members was vague, citing a "lifestyle-related issue," which implies an extramarital affair or similar matter.
This explanation was far from the core part of the issue. In October, with the U.S.-China summit around the corner, Qin was also removed as state councilor, a vice premier-level post he had concurrently held. The focus now is whether the party will severely punish him, or build a criminal case against him.
Russia's informational salvo had the power to wipe out China's top diplomat and turn the global political tide in its favor. It also affected China's stance toward the U.S. and eventually developed into a serious domestic political issue in China.
The full details of this complicated drama, however, will never be truly revealed or made known to the world.
Not content with just assassinating Russians, now Putin is even getting Chinese killed
That’s why we call him a murderous thug
“Prigozhin, who should have been one of Putin’s closest aides, died in a plane crash in August.”
They fail to mention that the plane was shot down by Putin.
A reverse Swalwell event, strictly handled.
i’ve pretty much read most of the reports from other sources.
we knew qin completely vanished right after the visit of russian delegation (i believe back in june?). then the rumor of his death exploded, then many of the top people from the rocket division completely disappeared from public.
it’s true that qin is more friendly towards the west than russia, as he tried to push xi to more neutral ground and not get involved in the russia-ukraine conflict.
qin also have mistress, she’s a famous former anchor for the phoenix tv network, they have a baby that was conceived in an unusual way (surrogate), he/she was born on US soil, but it was claimed by the mistress herself on the social media that the baby’s citizenship is chinese.
with all that out of the way, maybe it was a coincidence, maybe it’s a purge, it’s hard to draw conclusion.
we just know many of the top officials disappeared, your guess is as good as mine.
I thought it was the video of the guy walking down the street with his mistress that got everyone worked up.
Evidence point to 3 grenades going off in the cabin. Old news.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.