Liu Jianchao is the head of the Chinese Communist Party's International Department, which builds ties with foreign political parties. He was widely tipped as the next foreign minister. A fluent English-speaker who studied at Oxford University, he avoided the aggressive "wolf-warrior" style of diplomacy once voguish among Chinese diplomats. Days before his disappearance he said: "It is unimaginable that China and the United States would engage in armed conflict."
Liu's last public activity was on July 30th 2025, when he visited a senior politician in Algiers. He had more than 30 meetings in August 2024, a typically busy month. On August 10th the Wall Street Journal reported that he had been detained for questioning; Reuters confirmed the report, citing five people familiar with the matter. The reason for his detention was unknown. One of his deputies, Sun Haiyan, was also questioned but reappeared at an event on August 15th.
If Liu fails to re-emerge, it would mark another purge at the top of China's foreign-policy establishment, following the disappearance of former foreign minister Qin Gang in June 2023.
According to the obituary notices, a mean and unimportant person never dies.