A deputy to a top Chinese diplomat was detained, sources say, deepening uncertainty in Beijing’s foreign policy ranks.
A deputy to a top Chinese diplomat was detained, sources say, deepening uncertainty in Beijing’s foreign policy ranks.
A deputy to one of China’s most prominent diplomats has been detained by authorities, in what three people with knowledge of the matter described as “a further sign of uncertainty in the top echelons of China’s diplomacy.”
Sun Haiyan, 53, a senior diplomat and former ambassador to Singapore, was detained in early August “around the time Liu Jianchao… was taken in for questioning,” two of the people said. Liu, who heads the Communist Party’s International Department, is “widely seen as a potential foreign minister candidate,” according to one source.
Two of the people said Sun was detained “in connection with the questioning of Liu.” None of the sources knew “the basis of the questioning of either diplomat.” The three requested anonymity “because of the sensitivity of the matter.”
The detention of Liu, “who leads the International Department,” marked “the highest-level disappearance of a diplomat since China ousted its former foreign minister and President Xi Jinping’s protégé, Qin Gang, in 2023, following an unexplained public absence,” one of the sources said.
Another source said Liu’s detention came “after a work trip to Singapore, South Africa and Algeria,” and that “his house was searched in early August.”
The disappearance of Sun “alongside the highly visible Liu” adds to “questions about China’s foreign policy establishment at a time of rising tensions with Washington around trade and geopolitical influence,” one person familiar with the matter said.
China’s State Council Information Office, which “handles media queries for the government,” and the International Department “did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.” Both their profiles “remain on the International Department’s website.”
Sun’s last public appearance was “on August 1, when she attended a reception hosted by Nepal’s embassy in Beijing.” She was stationed in Singapore between May 2022 and July 2023. When she left her post, “she hosted a 500-person reception at a luxury Singapore hotel,” according to Chinese news reports.
Sun joined the International Department in 1997, “where she served in a wide range of roles, including spokesperson and head of the bureau responsible for ties with Southeast Asian countries.” She also served “as a district Party Committee official in the city of Zibo, Shandong province, in 2008.”
Originally from Hebei province, Sun “holds a doctorate in law from Peking University, having also studied at Japan’s Kyushu University.”
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