China Foreign Minister abruptly sacked after month-long disappearance

Qin's dismissal was announced Tuesday at a hastily convened and unusually short meeting of the Chinese Communist Party's decision-making body, the National People's Congress Standing Committee. The committee gave no reason for Qin's removal and Wang was returned to foreign minister in his place. Qin's departure is a shocking fall for a rising star of China's increasingly assertive diplomacy. He was seen as a loyalist who had been rapidly promoted under Xi Jinping, who broke with established norms when he claimed a third term as China's top leader last year. Qin rose quickly to prominence as Foreign Ministry spokesman then…