China’s sacked foreign minister Qin Gang resigns from Parliament after long absence from public view

In a surprise move, former Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang, who went missing after he was unceremoniously sacked last year, resigned from China’s national legislature ahead of its key annual session next week. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), which concluded its session here on Tuesday, said in a statement that the Tianjin Municipal People’s Congress accepted Qin’s resignation as a delegate to the upcoming annual parliamentary session, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The NPC regarded as China’s rubber-stamp parliament for its routine approvals of the ruling Communist Party’s agenda is due to begin its annual session on March 5 to legislate on a host of new laws and discuss steps to revive the country’s economy which is on a slowdown mode. The NPC statement said Qin has not been dismissed or expelled from the NPC but resigned, according to a report by Hong Kong-based SCMP.