Chinese defence minister Li Shangfu abruptly pulled out of a meeting with Vietnamese defence leaders last week, three officials with direct knowledge of the matter said, amid questions about his more than two-weeks-long absence from public view.

Li, 65, was due to attend an annual gathering on defence cooperation hosted by
Vietnam on its border with China on September 7-8 but the meeting was postponed after Beijing told Hanoi days before the event that the minister had a “health condition”, two Vietnamese officials said.

The sudden postponement of the meeting and the reasons cited by China are being reported by Reuters for the first time.

China’s State Council Information Office, as well as its defence and foreign ministries, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the Vietnam event.

The abrupt cancellation of Li’s trip follows China’s unexplained replacement of foreign minister Qin Gang in July after a prolonged absence from public view and a shake-up of the leadership of the PLA’s elite Rocket Force in recent months, moves that have raised questions about the Chinese leadership’s decision-making.