Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has been absent from public view for 12 days, an usual absence for the normally-busy senior official.

Qin had been expected to meet the European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell this month, before China abruptly postponed the trip without giving further details. Borrell had been set to arrive in Beijing on July 10.

Politico reported there was speculation in Brussels that Qin had health issues, prompting the delay.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said he had “not heard about” that report at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Friday.

According to the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Qin’s last official engagement was on June 25, when he met with officials from Sri Lanka, Russia and Vietnam. He also participated that day in an event where Chinese Premier Li Qiang met Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.

A lunch between Qin, 57, and ambassadors from the European Union to China that was set for late June was also canceled on short notice, according to one Beijing-based ambassador on the invite list.

ASEAN Meeting

Among Qin’s next likely diplomatic engagements would be a meeting with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who is set to arrive in China on Sunday.

An upcoming summit of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which takes place in Jakarta next week, is another forum where attendance by China’s foreign minister would normally be expected.

Wang, the foreign ministry spokesman, said the ministry would release information about China’s participation in the Asean meetings in a “timely manner.”

China is guarded when it comes to disclosing details of its leaders’ health. President Xi Jinping was the last member of the Group of Twenty leaders to reveal his vaccination status during the Covid-19 pandemic, not making the information public until July 2022.

--With assistance from Philip Glamann and Lucille Liu.