U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel floated rumors about the disappearance of China’s foreign minister and other top officials in a social media post that risks undermining Biden administration efforts to ease tensions with Beijing.
Emanuel, a former White House chief of staff, posted a comment on Elon Musk’s X — with the hashtag #MysteryInBeijingBuilding — that riffed on speculation about recent absences from the public eye of top ministers and head of the country’s rocket force, while also highlighting the high youth-unemployment rate under President Xi Jinping.
"President Xi’s cabinet lineup is now resembling Agatha Christie’s novel And Then There Were None,” Emanuel wrote. "First, Foreign Minister Qin Gang goes missing, then the Rocket Force commanders go missing, and now Defense Minister Li Shangfu hasn’t been seen in public for two weeks. Who’s going to win this unemployment race? China’s youth or Xi’s cabinet?”