Chinese diplomat Liu Jianchao’s star was on the rise. A fluent English speaker, he was seen in the West as a moderate, convivial antidote to the era of hard-nosed “wolf warrior” Chinese diplomacy.

His role as boss of the Communist Party’s International Department, responsible for diplomatic outreach with overseas political parties, added to speculation he was a foreign minister in waiting and had the trust of President Xi Jinping.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) with Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow in May.Credit: AP

Then rumours that Liu had been detained began circulating.

They appeared to have substance when The Wall Street Journal reported last week that he had been “taken away by authorities for questioning” after returning from an overseas work trip in late July. His deputy, Sun Haiyan, a former ambassador to Singapore, had also been detained for questioning, Reuters reported on Friday, though she soon reappeared at a public event.

“It is very significant, and quite surprising,” said Dylan Loh, an assistant professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and author of the book China’s Rising Foreign Ministry.

“The foreign policy apparatus in China is not usually a target of purges or probes. There are really just a handful of very solid, experienced senior foreign diplomats.”

Chinese diplomat Liu Jianchao delivers a speech at an event hosted by the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney in 2023. Credit: Louie Douvis

Liu’s apparent detention – unconfirmed by the Chinese government – is considered especially unusual because it has come so soon after the removal of former foreign minister Qin Gang, also a Xi loyalist, in 2023. There were rumours he’d had an affair with a high-profile Chinese reporter while in the US.

For all the opacity that has come to shroud Chinese elite politics on Xi’s watch, as lines of communication have narrowed and leaks have dried up under his tightening grip on power, intrigue, rumour and rampant speculation have never dimmed.

Rather they have been turbocharged by the scale of Xi’s anti-corruption campaign, under which millions........

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