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2 October 2014

CHINESE AMBASSADOR WITHDRAWN FROM INDIA BEFORE PRESIDENT’S VISIT

September 30, 2014 

Chinese Ambassador Withdrawn From India Before President’s Visit

China unexpectedly recalled its ambassador to India shortly before a state visit to the country this month by President Xi Jinping. The move came as news emerged about the mysterious disappearance of another Chinese diplomat in Iceland who was alleged to have spied for Japan.

Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, announced the day before Mr Xi’s arrival in India that Wei Wei had been replaced as ambassador in New Delhi by Le Yucheng, who had been posted in Kazakhstan.

Several senior diplomats from other countries said they were baffled by the move but there was no agreement on the possible causes. They said Mr Wei might have been shunted out to make way for one of Mr Xi’s loyalists, or fallen foul of an anti-corruption campaign that has brought down tens of thousands of Chinese officials since it began early last year.

Communist party investigators have systematically investigated government departments and regional authorities but have not publicly revealed any investigation into the foreign ministry or the country’s diplomats.

The Communist party’s central commission for discipline inspection, the main anti-corruption body in the country, said it had “disciplined” or “severely disciplined” more than 250,000 cadres since the campaign begun.

The Chinese embassy provided no explanation for the removal of Mr Wei, who had been based in India for under two years. In Beijing, the foreign ministry said “the appointment and removal of the ambassador is normal diplomatic practice” but would not disclose his whereabouts.

Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, said: “It’s very strange. You don’t replace an ambassador or recall an ambassador on the eve of a visit.” The professor said Mr Wei must have been given his “marching orders” by hawkish Chinese leaders for ruffling the feathers of the People’s Liberation Army.

Chinese troops crossed the disputed “Line of Actual Control” separating India from China in the Tibetan Himalayas to coincide with Mr Xi’s visit to India. Confrontations between hundreds of soldiers from the two armies have continued for more than two weeks, albeit without a shot being fired.

“Every visit of a Chinese leader is preceded by some belligerence. It’s become a routine thing now,” Professor Chellaney said. But Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, had been taken aback by the size of the Chinese force that crossed the line, which numbered 1,000 or more at its peak.

Although the Chinese announcement about Mr Wei’s replacement was made on September 16, Indian officials said Mr Wei was in fact replaced weeks before. The newly arrived Mr Le publicly presented his credentials to President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi five days before Mr Xi’s arrival.

One theory is that Mr Le is a protégé or an ally of the Chinese president, since he was sent to Kazakhstan just before Mr Xi’s visit to that country in 2013, just as he was parachuted into India this year.

A search for Mr Wei on the English language version of the foreign ministry’s website reveals only an anodyne article published in his name this year in an Indian newspaper, where he wrote about reviving the “silk road” connecting India, China and the rest of Asia to promote mutual prosperity.

Diplomats posted in New Delhi had contrasting views of Mr Wei, with some calling him exceptionally uncommunicative and others saying he engaged in normal diplomatic dialogue.

“He was very open, perhaps too open,” one ambassador said.

Ma Jisheng, China’s ambassador to Iceland, is missing with his wife and has been arrested over allegations that he is a Japanese spy, according to media reports. Mr Ma failed to return to his job in Rejkyavik after travelling to China in January.

China’s foreign ministry has said it has no information on Mr Ma’s case and it was unclear whether his disappearance is part of a broader investigation into suspected espionage within the Chinese foreign service.

Additional reporting by Lucy Hornby in Beijing

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