ISTANBUL
\nAfter months-long disappearance, China\u2019s former Foreign Minister Qin Gang re-appeared on Tuesday to step down from the country\u2019s national legislature.
\nQin was mysteriously missing from June last year, before being suddenly removed, following which President Xi Jinping brought back Wang Yi to lead China\u2019s Foreign Ministry.
\nHis resignation was announced by a Standing Committee meeting of the 14th National People\u2019s Congress (NPC) which will hold its annual \u201cTwo Sessions\u201d in early March.
\nHowever, the Standing Committee said Qin \u201chas not been dismissed or expelled from the NPC,\u201d South China Morning Post reported.
\nThe resignation was accepted by the Tianjin People\u2019s Congress, it said.
\nLast October, Qin was stripped of his post as a state councilor but still remains a member of the 205-strong Communist Party Central Committee.
\nNational legislature deputies will convene in the capital Beijing on March 5.
\nThe Standing Committee Tuesday concluded its eighth session in Beijing.
\nMeanwhile, former Defense Minister Li Shangfu was removed from the Communist Party\u2019s Central Military Commission on Tuesday.
\nLi went missing in late August and was shifted out of the ministry last December before being removed from the commission, which is headed by Xi.
\nBeijing has offered no official explanation for why Qin and Li were removed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISTANBUL After months-long disappearance, China\u2019s former Foreign Minister Qin Gang re-appeared on Tuesday to step down from the country\u2019s national legislature. Qin was mysteriously missing from June last year, before being suddenly removed, following which President Xi Jinping brought back Wang Yi to lead China\u2019s Foreign Ministry. His resignation was announced by a Standing Committee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390123,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-390110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n