Liu Jianchao, a senior Chinese diplomat widely seen as a potential future foreign minister, has been detained by authorities for questioning, the Wall Street Journal has reported. Liu was taken away after returning to Beijing in late July from an overseas work trip, it reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. China’s State Council Information Office, which handles media queries for the Chinese government, and the Chinese Communist party International Liaison Department did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

Liu, 61, has led the Communist party’s body in charge of managing ties with foreign political parties. Since taking the role in 2022, he has travelled to more than 20 nations and met officials from more than 160 countries. Liu’s busy schedule, especially his meetings with former US secretary of state Antony Blinken in Washington, stoked expectations that the former ambassador and ministry spokesperson was being groomed to be the next foreign minister.

His detention marks the highest-level investigation involving a diplomat since China ousted its former foreign minister and President Xi Jinping’s protege, Qin Gang, in 2023 after rumours of an extramarital affair. Born in the north-eastern province of Jilin, Liu majored in English at Beijing Foreign Studies University and studied international relations at Oxford before taking up his first post as a translator with the foreign ministry.

He has served in China’s mission to Britain and later as ambassador to Indonesia and the Philippines. During his time as ministry spokesperson, he was known for humorous off-the-cuff comments while making a no-nonsense defence of China’s interests.