Born in Tianjin in 1966, Qin Gang began his career at the Beijing Service Bureau for Diplomatic Missions in 1988. He later moved into the Chinese Foreign Ministry, where he specialized in European affairs between 1992 and 2002. He was Foreign Ministry spokesperson for two terms between 2005 and 2014. Qin accompanied President Xi Jinping on numerous overseas trips while he worked at the Protocol Department of the Foreign Ministry. He became China's vice foreign minister in 2018, mainly in charge of protocol and news. He has always been very firm in defending China's interests and has regularly criticized countries that use baseless claims against China.