Former China ambassador to S'pore may or may not have been detained in Beijing

The former China Ambassador to Singapore, Sun Haiyan, was detained for questioning, according to Reuters, but according to Lianhe Zaobao, has since returned to work.

News of detention "false"

Reuters reported on Aug. 15 that Sun, a senior diplomat and former ambassador to Singapore for China, was detained in early August.

Reuters cited three people with knowledge of the matter, two of whom said that Sun’s detention occurred around the same time as that of Liu Jianchao, himself a senior diplomat who was touted as a possible future Foreign Minister.

Sun was allegedly last seen on Aug. 1 at a diplomatic function in Beijing.

However, soon after Reuters published its report, Lianhe Zaobao followed up with its own update.

According to two sources, Zaobao reported that Sun is currently working as normal, and that news of her detention is “false”.

She remains listed as Deputy Minister of the International Liaison Department (ILD) of the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) website.

"Short but remarkable" tenure

Sun served as ambassador to Singapore for just over a year between 2022 and 2023, before being recalled from Singapore after she was promoted to the position of Deputy Minister at the ILD.

Sun was considered to be an effective ambassador for China during her tenure, and former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo described her term as "short but remarkable".

Her promotion was also notable at the time as she was the first deputy minister within China's foreign policy circles to be born after 1970, as well as the ILD's first female deputy minister.

Leadership gap

The ILD is a prominent foreign policy body within China’s ruling party, responsible for establishing and maintaining relationships with political parties in other countries, and according to Bloomberg, is run in parallel to China’s Foreign Ministry.

Liu is currently listed as the ILD’s minister.

Bloomberg further reports that neither China’s foreign ministry nor the ILD has responded to queries about Liu’s status; with the CPC usually preferring to conduct its investigations outside of public view.

It usually only confirms outcomes briefly after a decision has been made about an individual’s fate, as was the case with several of China’s former Ministers of National Defense.

Liu’s removal highlights a leadership gap in China’s foreign policy space.

Wang Yi, the incumbent foreign minister, left the position in 2023 to become the director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China, making him China’s top diplomat.

Because China operates its national government and party organs in parallel, typically CPC organs are considered to be more senior than national ones; thus, the director of the CFAC outranks the Foreign Minister.

Qin Gang replaced Wang, but Qin would eventually be removed from the position and resign from the CPC, with Wang returning to the role.

Wang turns 72 in 2025, and is far older than the CPC’s informal retirement age of 65; but he lacks a clear successor, especially now that one of the most likely candidates may have been sidelined.

Top image via George Yeo/Facebook & Wikipedia