Former Minister of the Central Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Liaison Department (referred to as the Liaison Department), Liu Jianchao, once a popular candidate for the CPC Foreign Minister, has been missing for over six months. There have been reports indicating that he has been demoted from ministerial level to bureau level. After the incident involving Liu Jianchao, there have been successive personnel changes within the Liaison Department.
Independent commentator Cai Shenkun revealed on February 8th that the authorities have downgraded Liu Jianchao from ministerial level to bureau level. Recently, Liu Jianchao officially moved out of the Minister’s building on Wanshou Road in Beijing.
However, the above information has not been confirmed at the moment.
Liu Jianchao had long worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, serving as Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and concurrently as Director of the News Department. He later transferred to the International Cooperation Bureau of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and Deputy Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau. In 2018, he became the Deputy Director of the General Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Working Committee. In 2022, he successively served as the Executive Deputy Director of the General Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Working Committee and Minister of the CPC Liaison Department.
The CPC Central Liaison Department is mainly responsible for the CPC’s inter-party diplomacy, and its leaders rarely visit Western democratic countries. In January 2024, Liu Jianchao made a “breakthrough” visit to the United States and delivered a speech, which was interpreted as a signal that he might succeed as the Foreign Minister.
In July 2025, the then Minister of the Liaison Department, Liu Jianchao, visited countries such as Singapore, South Africa, and Algeria, after which he disappeared without a trace. The Wall Street Journal cited sources at the time saying that Liu Jianchao returned to Beijing at the end of July and was taken away by the authorities. Reuters also cited sources saying that Liu Jianchao was arrested in early August, and authorities also searched his residence.
On September 30, 2025, the Minister information on the Liaison Department’s official website was updated, removing the details of former Minister Liu Jianchao, with Liu Haixing, former Executive Deputy Director of the Central National Security Commission Office, appointed as the new Minister.
Australian scholar Yuan Hongbing had previously revealed that Liu Jianchao was involved in extreme debauchery. He was in the process of being promoted to the next Foreign Minister but felt threatened by the current Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s group, who wanted to report his corruption and debauchery issues. After being arrested, Liu Jianchao retaliated by politically framing Wang Yi’s group and alleging that Wang Yi had an extramarital relationship with his female secretary, exposing the internal struggles within the CPC’s diplomatic system.
Independent commentator Du Zheng also wrote an article for Taiwan’s media, “Shang Bao,” suggesting that a retired Chinese official hinted that Liu Jianchao’s case was related to leaks, with one of the reasons for the leaks being associated with “beautiful women.”
Previously, the then Minister of the CPC Foreign Ministry, Qin Gang, went “missing” at the end of June 2023 and was dismissed a month later. The most widely circulated rumors concerning Qin Gang also involved women, including extramarital affairs and espionage. He was also said to have engaged in fierce infighting with Wang Yi.
Qin Gang’s whereabouts also remain a mystery. In October 2025, photos surfaced on overseas social media allegedly showing Qin Gang appearing at an event in Beijing, but their authenticity could not be confirmed.
Cai Shenkun recently mentioned on a program that the authorities downgraded former Foreign Minister Qin Gang from vice-ministerial level to ministerial level. However, there were previous reports indicating that Qin Gang had been demoted to serve at the “World Knowledge Publishing House,” going from vice-ministerial level to deputy bureau level.
Du Zheng pointed out that the nature of the cases of Qin Gang and Liu Jianchao are different. Qin Gang went missing for a long time before being officially dismissed, with the officials only categorizing it as an “extramarital affair”. This charge may not be substantial for prominent officials, but when someone wants to target you, it becomes a critical issue. Liu Jianchao’s situation seems more serious as there has been no official decision seen even after six months.
It is worth noting that both Qin Gang and Liu Jianchao were appreciated by Xi Jinping and were elected to the Central Committee at the 20th National Congress of the CPC. The downfall of the “twin stars of diplomacy” in the CPC is a slap in the face to Xi Jinping.
On September 30, 2025, Liu Haixing, who had already taken over as Minister of the Liaison Department, had a long history in the diplomatic system but later served in the national security system, a background that has attracted attention.
According to the Jilin Daily, on February 9th this year, former Deputy Minister of the Liaison Department Li Mingxiang has now been appointed as a member of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee and Minister of the Provincial Committee Organization Department.
Li Mingxiang, born in May 1969 in Guan County, Shandong Province, had long worked in the Liaison Department. In November 2019, he became Assistant Minister and Director of the Bureau of Cadres and was promoted to Deputy Minister in December 2022.
In September 2025, several Hong Kong and overseas media outlets reported that there were five Deputy Ministers in the Liaison Department, with Li Mingxiang ranking second, just behind top-ranked Chen Zhou. However, based on the seating arrangements and accompaniment arrangements at public events such as Kim Jong Un’s visit to China and Xi Jinping’s meeting with the leader of Laos, Li Mingxiang’s position was higher than Chen Zhou’s, leading to speculation that he was acting in charge of the Liaison Department’s daily work at that time.
Currently, the four Deputy Ministers of the Liaison Department are Chen Zhou, Sun Haiyan, Lu Kang, and Ma Hui, with Jin Xin serving as Assistant Minister.
A report by the Global Epoch Times found that Liu Jianchao is not listed in the “Past Department Leaders” section of the Liaison Department’s official website.