The U.S. ambassador to Japan, Ram Emmanuel, questioned in a post on X platform on Friday whether the Chinese defense minister is under house arrest, adding to the confusion regarding the state's council member's absence from public appearances for two weeks.

Emmanuel wrote, "First: Defense Minister Li Shangfu has not been seen or heard from for three weeks. Second: He did not appear during his visit to Vietnam. Now: He is absent from a scheduled meeting with the commander of the Singapore Navy because he is under house arrest???," according to Reuters.

The foreign and defense ministries in Beijing have yet to respond to requests for comment. The U.S. embassy in Tokyo stated that it has no additional comment at this time.

In exclusive news, Reuters reported on Thursday that Li suddenly withdrew from a meeting with Vietnamese defense leaders last week.

He was last seen in Beijing on August 29, delivering a speech at a security forum with African countries.

The Financial Times reported on Friday, citing three U.S. officials and two sources familiar with intelligence information, that the U.S. government believes Li is under investigation. The report did not clarify the nature of this investigation.

Li's absence follows China's decision, the reasons for which have not been disclosed, to replace foreign minister Qin Gang in July after his prolonged absence from public appearances and the recent change in leadership of the missile forces, an elite branch of the People's Liberation Army, in recent months.

Like Li, Qin is one of the five state council members in China, a ministerial position higher than that of a minister.

These moves have raised questions from analysts and diplomats regarding the lack of transparency and unpredictability in the decision-making process within the Chinese leadership.

It seems that the Singapore meeting referred to by the U.S. ambassador in his post was a visit made by Singapore Navy Chief Shawn Watt to China from the fourth to the ninth of this month.