Two Weeks Not Seen, Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu Cancels Meeting With Vietnam, Where To?

Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu. (Twitter/@IISS_org)

JAKARTA - Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu suddenly canceled his participation in a meeting with Vietnamese defense leaders last week, three officials familiar with the matter said.

The news was in line with the absence of Defense Minister Li for more than two weeks in public.

Defense Minister Li was originally scheduled to attend an annual meeting on defense cooperation organized by Vietnam on its border with China on September 7-8.

However, the meeting was postponed after Beijing told Hanoi days before the event, Defense Minister Li had a "health condition", two Vietnamese officials said.

China's State Council Information Office, as well as the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the cancellation in Vietnam. The Vietnamese Embassy in Beijing could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday evening.

The sudden cancellation of Defense Minister Li's visit came after the replacement of Foreign Minister Qin Gang by China in July, after long absence from public views and reshuffle of the leadership of the Rocket Troops, China's elite People's Liberation Army (PLA) unit in recent months, steps that raised questions about this matter. Chinese leadership decision-making.

The outbreak of Qin's political career in the Communist Party, reportedly partly due to his closeness to President Xi Jinping. Thus, his dismissal when he had only been in office for seven months became unexpected. Chinese officials initially said Qin's absence from the public was due to health reasons.

Meanwhile, Li was appointed to office in March. He was observed closely by diplomats and other observers because, like Qin, he is also one of the five members of the Chinese State Council, a cabinet position with a higher rank than ordinary ministers.

Li was last seen in Beijing on August 29 delivering an important speech at a security forum with African countries. Previously, he held high-level meetings during a trip to Russia and Belarus.

China's Defense Minister has a major responsibility regarding defense diplomacy and does not lead combat forces. Its public profile is less than that of foreign ministers, which frequently appear in state media.

"Li's disappearance, which happened shortly after Qin, shows how mysterious China's elite politics is in the eyes of the outside world," said Alfred Wu, professor at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.

"Anyway under Xi's leadership doesn't feel the need to explain themselves to the world," he continued.

Li was sanctioned by the United States in 2018 for buying weapons from Russia's largest arms exporter, Rosoboronexport.