By Bond Robertson 
No one has seen the Chinese Defense Minister for a month. Now the world is wondering where Li Changfu (65 years old) could be.
- China’s Defense Minister, Li Changfu, has not appeared in nearly a month, and there is no official explanation for his absence.
- Several planned meetings with foreign defense officials have been cancelled, and the status of future meetings is uncertain.
- The Defense Minister’s disappearance also follows the unexplained absence of Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Gang.
- Researcher Hans-Jürgen Jasmer believes the disappearances may be linked to China’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign.
It has been almost a month since the public last saw Chinese Defense Minister Li Changfu, 65. He was last seen at the end of August.
But there is still no official explanation as to what may have happened to the minister.
At a press conference at the Foreign Ministry on Monday, Mao’s spokesman refused to answer a question about the minister, saying the matter was “not a diplomatic matter,” reports said. guardian.
But several planned meetings between Li and foreign defense officials have already been cancelled, and the status of future meetings has become uncertain.
Because where is the Minister of Defense?
More disappearances
What frightens many is that he is not the first of President Xi Jinping’s trusted officials to suddenly disappear.
It is also clear that Foreign Minister Chen Gang suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by a new minister.
In mid-July, when the foreign minister had been out of the country for three months, a search for “Where is Qin Gang” on the Chinese search engine Google produced a somewhat suspicious result, he wrote. guardian.
The disappearances must be viewed in the context of China’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign, says Hans-Jürgen Gasmer, a China researcher at NUPI.
– There has been a major clean-up process to have a clean and untainted party and party leadership, he explains to VG.
In the party, the government and the governmental apparatus, there are many people who are “taken” at various levels, and not just the highest ones, as we see here, the chief researcher points out.
– The unusual thing about this is that the person sitting in such a high position disappears.
It is still available on the Ministry’s website
Defense Minister Lee did not serve long. He has only been in this position since March. His predecessor also faced problems before he took office for a year.
Both information is from US intelligence and news agency Reuters He claims that there may be suspicions of corruption regarding the purchase of military equipment.
But it is difficult to have clear evidence of corruption, says NUPI researcher Gasimir. Gåsemyr has noted that the Minister no It has been removed from official defense-related communications, such as Department of Defense websites or the Defense Command Overview.
– If the matter had been more serious, or if they could have progressed further in the process related to suspicion and investigations, the flow of information would have been blocked, and a new person could have come on his behalf, Gåsemyr tells VG.
house arrest
– Where could the Minister of Defense be then?
– What often happens is that the person concerned is placed in a kind of “home office”, or house arrest, with restrictions on movement. The researcher says that this is not an official prison, but it is still a clear deprivation of liberty.
– I think we are here at a stage where we are collecting information, says Hans-Jürgen Gasmer.
He explains that it is not uncommon when this type of issue arises in China, for it to happen behind closed doors. That is, until the matter becomes so serious that a lawsuit is underway. The researcher explains: Because in China you don’t talk about internal matters.
This is part of China’s way of maintaining internal control: not sharing information, or at least not sharing information until it is sure what is behind it and sees the consequences.