中国国务委员兼外交部长秦刚从公开场合失踪已经足足一个月。 较早前中国外交部曾宣布秦刚因“健康原因”将缺席在印度尼西亚举行的亚细安外长会议。

在上星期一的记者会上，当被问及秦刚的下落时，中国外交部发言人毛宁只表示不了解情况，没有其他更多的信息。不再提“健康原因”是否透露出事情不妙？与此同时，有关秦刚与女主播的绯闻在网上也传得沸沸扬扬。

秦刚到底发生了什么事？他的失踪对中国的外交与政治会产生什么影响？

这期的早报播客《东谈西论》，听主持人韩咏红和《联合早报》北京记者于泽远详细解析。

(本集《东谈西论》录音后，中国全国人大常委会会议决定，免去秦刚的外交部长职务，由中共中央政治局委员、中央外办主任王毅接任外长。)

延伸阅读：

• 新闻人间：消失的“他”
• 杨丹旭：王毅为何那么忙?
• 秦刚被免外长间接证实不利传闻　分析：王毅接任可能是过渡安排

纵观天下，监测中国心跳，由《联合早报》副总编辑韩咏红主持的国际时事播客《东谈西论》，每周探讨国际热点话题，分析国际时政动态。每逢星期二新加坡时间晚上 7 时更新。

China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang has been absent from public view for a month. He was last seen on June 25 when he met officials from Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Russia.

His disappearance was first noticed when he missed the Asean annual foreign ministers’ meeting in Indonesia earlier this month. China’s Foreign Ministry cited “health reasons” for Mr Qin missing the Asean summit, and said it had no further information on his whereabouts. 

There is intense speculation about the fate of China’s main envoy, including a rumour of his extramarital affair with a TV presenter. 

What has happened to Qin Gang? How will his disappearance affect China’s domestic politics and international relations? 

In this episode of Global Heartbeat podcast, Lianhe Zaobao’s Beijing journalist Yu Zeyuan shares his insights with host Han Yong Hong. 

(After the recording of this episode, China's top legislature voted to remove Qin Gang as foreign minister at an urgent meeting and reappointed his predecessor Wang Yi to the position.)

Hosted by Lianhe Zaobao’s Associate Editor, Han Yong Hong, Global Heartbeat is a Mandarin weekly news and current affairs podcast that is updated every Tuesday, 7.00 PM SGT. It is available on zaobao.sg, Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast platforms.

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