China’s ousted foreign minister Qin Gang had an extramarital affair with a high-profile Chinese television presenter who had a child through surrogacy in the United States, the Financial Times reported Tuesday citing multiple unnamed sources, deepening intrigue around the unexplained disappearance and removal of the senior diplomat.

Fu Xiaotian, 40, the former host of a flagship talk show on Hong Kong-based Chinese broadcaster Phoenix TV, was in a relationship with 57-year-old Qin, the FT reported, citing six people close to Fu and China’s foreign policy establishment.

Fu had a child last year with the help of a surrogate mother in the US, according to one unnamed source cited in the FT report, which did not reveal the identity of the father.
Two people who know Fu told CNN that they heard from common friends she had a child through surrogacy in the US, though they did not know who the father was.

The FT report is the latest jigsaw piece in the mystery surrounding Qin, a once-trusted aide of Chinese leader Xi Jinping who was abruptly removed as foreign minister in July after vanishing from public view for a month.

Beijing has offered no explanation for Qin’s ouster and repeatedly sidestepped questions about his fate from foreign journalists at news briefings.
When asked about the latest report at a regular press briefing Wednesday, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry said: “This is not a diplomatic issue.”

CNN has reached out to China’s State Council Information Office, which handles press inquiries for the central government, as well as Phoenix TV for comment.

CNN has not been able to reach Qin or Fu – or their representatives. Fu stopped posting on her WeChat social media account in May after returning to China from the US in April, two sources close to Fu told CNN.

In China, it is not uncommon for public figures – from officials and business tycoons to celebrities – to disappear for weeks or even months while under investigation before any news indicating their fate surfaces.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported Chinese officials were told that an internal Communist Party investigation found Qin to have been engaged in an extramarital affair that led to the birth of a child in the US while serving as China’s envoy to Washington, citing people familiar with the matter.

According to the WSJ, Chinese officials were briefed last month on the investigation into Qin and were told that the formal reason for Qin’s dismissal was “lifestyle issues,” a term commonly used to refer to sexual misconduct. The names of the woman and child were not disclosed to officials, the report said.

An investigation is underway to look into whether the alleged affair and any other actions Qin might have taken could have affected China’s national security, the WSJ said.

According to Qin’s resume on Chinese government websites, he is “married with a son.”

Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington, said having an affair is not uncommon in Chinese politics, but there are not many known cases of top leaders having a child resulting from such a relationship.

Sun noted that if Qin was removed because of his alleged relationship, it would be a unique case as no Chinese leader at the national level is known to have been stripped of their position over an affair only.

“That’s where the speculation gets wild and becomes much more interesting,” she said.