Until yesterday, Qin Gang 秦刚 was serving as China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. But on Monday, July 24, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee announced an emergency meeting for the next day, July 25, during which Qin was “removed” 免职 (albeit not “dismissed” 撤职) from his position as China’s #2 diplomat.

To dissect the rumors and make sense of it all, we have on Matt Brazil — a senior China analyst at BluePath Labs, writer for SpyTalk, fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, and longtime friend ChinaTalk. (Check out our January 2021 show with Matt!)

We discuss:

• Precisely what we know and don’t know about l’affaire Qin;
• How journalist Fu Xiaotian 傅晓田 is wrapped up in all of this — and how those with CCP connections somehow end up with private jets and buy-ins to elite universities;
• Qin’s possible connections to the Ministry of State Security — and why that might rub his subordinates the wrong way;
• How the CCP has dispensed with previous political elites, and whether Qin’s treatment resembles theirs; and
• Why it is that sometimes even the heads of CCP security don’t even know what’s going on!

Outro music: 我要你的愛, by 葛蘭; “Saving All My Love For You,” by Whitney Houston

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