The Hidden Power Behind China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi

So to understand the dynamics behind the shift in Beijing's foreign policy, we must first understand the man at the center of it. Yes, the man that you're looking at, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi. He is China's most experienced diplomat, with 44 years in the foreign policy establishment. For more than a decade, he appeared to be one of the most loyal and aggressive faces of Xi Jinping's war-warrior diplomacy. But his relationship with Xi Jinping is far more complicated than it appears. Before we dig into Wang's 40-year career, let's first look at another man because it's important. I'm going to spend some time explaining the dynamics, the political dynamics or the power dynamics within China's diplomatic establishment before we address the policy shifts. Okay, so we have to discuss this man. Let's talk about the disgraced foreign minister, former foreign minister, Qin Gang. Now, Qin Gang gained Xi Jinping's trust as his head of protocol, who accompanied Xi Jinping on many foreign visits. As a result, Xi Jinping promoted him on a fast track. In July 2021, Qin Gang was sent to Washington as China's ambassador to the US. Less than 18 months later, at the end of 2022, he returned to Beijing and replaced Wang Yi as foreign minister. Three months later, he was appointed state councillor, a vice national level position above an ordinary cabinet minister. Now consider how fast that happened. Only 72 days passed before Qin Gang became, becoming a foreign minister and entering the state council leadership. The state councillor was a state council leadership position that he held concurrently with the foreign minister. So now let's compare that with Wang Yi. Wang Yi became foreign minister in March 2013. He did not become a state councillor until March 2018. The same promotion took Wang Yi five years. Qin Gang did it in 72 days. That is why many people believed Xi Jinping had chosen Qin Gang as Wang Yi's eventual successor. Unfortunately, Wang Yi probably did not welcome that arrangement. And Qin Gang only lasted about six months as China's foreign minister. Because what happened next? By looking at this picture, you all know what happened. The explosive rumors about Qin Gang's affair with TV anchor Fu Xiaotian. The allegations attracted so much attention around the world because of photographs and social media posts previously shared by Fu Xiaotian. Suddenly, a foreign minister who had just been promoted was engulfed in a deeply personal scandal. For Xi Jinping, it was deeply embarrassing. This was the man he had personally brought in to replace Wang Yi. And suddenly, his reputation is on the line. And worse, Qin Gang couldn't even remain standing for half or six months. So the more the allocations circulated, the harder it became for Xi to keep him in office. And then notice what actually happened. Qin Gang was not publicly defeated by Wang Yi in some dramatic political confrontation. The personal scandal created an opening or created an opportunity. And then Qin Gang lost the position inside the system. So he was removed as foreign minister a little more than a month after he disappeared. And the official reasons was health. And then Wang Yi, who had been out of the job for only seven months, returned to take it back. Xi Jinping never publicly handed Qin Gang over to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. But the political outcome was unmistakable. Wang Yi reclaimed the foreign ministry. And today, at the age of 72, he controls both sides of China's diplomatic apparatus and also the party. He controls the foreign ministry and also the CCP's, the party's foreign relations arm. So he controls both the government and the party's diplomatic apparatus. So Xi Jinping tried to place his own man inside the foreign ministry. Qin Gang never managed to establish control before he was removed. So you may ask why? Because he had encountered tremendous resistance inside the ministry itself. So to understand that resistance, we need to first examine the institution Qin Gang was trying to take over. The question is, who built the house in the first place? Ask China's former premier Zhou Enlai, who served simultaneously as China's first premier and first foreign minister. He selected many of China's first generation diplomats and built the foreign ministry from the ground up. He shaped China's relationship with the Soviet Union and established a diplomatic method Beijing would continue to use with the West. Publicly confront your opponent, but always preserve a channel for negotiation. And the rhetoric could be extremely tough, but behind the scenes, China always kept room to maneuver, compromise, or change direction. That was the legacy left behind by Zhou Enlai. But if you look at China's foreign policy today, under Wang Yi, it's still the same. So in that sense, the foreign ministry was shaped by Zhou Enlai and by the political networks that grew out of his system. But you may say, wait a minute, Zhou Enlai died in 1976. So why does he still matter today? I'll explain that shortly. Now, when Xi Jinping sent Qin Gang into the ministry, he was inserting his own loyalist into an institution inherited from the Zhou Enlai era. But here was the problem. A minister can be appointed from above, but the network beneath him cannot be replaced simply by changing the name on the office door. And Wang Yi appears to have an unspoken advantage inside China's diplomatic establishment, something outsiders may struggle to define, but insiders instinctively understand. Whenever Wang Yi moved through the system, someone seemed ready to clear the way, or someone was always there, ready to help him clear the way. Why? And this brings us to a long-running rumor about Wang Yi's background. Let me show you some pictures, some pictures, this picture. For many years, some people have claimed that Wang Yi is Zhou Enlai's son. Now, let me be clear. This is only a rumor, and it has never been proven, and we probably can never prove that. But the fact that he has survived for so many years inside Beijing's diplomatic circles tells us something. In the eyes of many people, Wang Yi's roots in China's foreign policy establishment seemed too deep to be explained by an ordinary resume alone. Now, just look at the two men. You have to admit, it's interesting. The thick eyebrows, the forehead, the shape of the face. Sometimes genetics can be very difficult to hide. And according to one version of the rumor, Wang Yi's biological mother was the famous singer Wang Kun. The story claims that Zhou Enlai wanted to conceal the child's identity, so he entrusted him to one of his longtime secretaries. It goes even further, claiming that the secret was guarded so closely that even Mao Zedong never discovered it. And according to this account, Wang Yi took his mother's surname and grew up in a family connected to China's diplomatic system and later entered the foreign ministry almost as a matter of course. It is a very detailed story, isn't it? What makes it even more amusing is that the CCP's own media has occasionally seemed unable to resist adding to the speculation. In a past profile of Wang Yi, the party-affiliated magazine called Global People wrote that Wang Yi carried a certain legacy of Premier Zhou Enlai. And so the Chinese word legacy, meaning something inherited or left behind, created an awkward double meaning. Was the magazine saying that Wang Yi had inherited Zhou Enlai's diplomatic style or diplomatic legacy? Or was it suggesting that he had inherited something biologically? Now let's look at Wang Yi's actual career. In 1982, he entered the foreign ministry after graduating from college. And because he had studied Japanese, his first assignment was in the Japan division of the Department of Asian Affairs. From there, he rose steadily through the same system. Division director, deputy department director, department director. And in 2001, he became the youngest vice foreign minister in China at the time. And several of the positions he held along the way reportedly made him one of the youngest officials ever to serve at that level. So some people believe that Wang Yi's remarkably smooth 40-some-year rise inside the ministry helps explain both Qin Gang's failure and Wang Yi's ability to reclaim control of the foreign ministry. So once you understand that Wang Yi is not simply another CCP diplomat working for Xi Jinping, the subtle changes in Beijing's foreign policy begin to make more sense. Some people see him as a Xi Jinping loyalist. Others believe he has defected to a new political master. I think the reality is more complicated. I think Wang Yi appears to have accepted an assignment that several sides can support. Because he came out of the old diplomatic establishment, the conservative forces inside the anti-Xi camp do not regard him as an enemy. They see him as one of their allies. Because Zhou Enlai, the founder of China's diplomatic system, was considered a conservative. So that's how they see them. The conservative faction sees them as one of them. Now, because Wang Yi is willing to stabilize relations with the U.S., Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, the reformist side is also prepared to keep using him as their chief diplomat. And because he has worked under Xi Jinping for more than a decade, he understands Xi Jinping's agenda and knows how far Xi Jinping's camp is willing to go. Wang Yi may be the one man all three sides still need. And for the moment, the one man all three sides believe they can trust.