(Reuters) -China's&nbsp;former&nbsp;Foreign&nbsp;Minister&nbsp;Qin&nbsp;Gang, who was&nbsp;ousted&nbsp;from his position in July, had an&nbsp;extramarital&nbsp;affair&nbsp;while he was ambassador to the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with a briefing.
The report said&nbsp;Qin&nbsp;was cooperating with the investigation, which was now focused on whether the&nbsp;affair&nbsp;or&nbsp;Qin's conduct had compromised&nbsp;China's&nbsp;national security.
Senior Chinese officials were told that an internal Communist Party investigation found&nbsp;Qin&nbsp;engaged in the&nbsp;affair&nbsp;throughout his tenure as&nbsp;China's&nbsp;ambassador to the United States, the report said. Two sources told the newspaper the&nbsp;affair&nbsp;had resulted in the birth of a child in the U.S.
During a regular press briefing on Tuesday, China&nbsp;foreign&nbsp;ministry spokeperson Mao Ning was asked about the article and said: "on the appointment and removal of the Chinese&nbsp;foreign&nbsp;minister, the Chinese side has released information before and I am not aware of the other information you mentioned".
Qin&nbsp;was replaced by veteran diplomat Wang Yi in July as the&nbsp;foreign&nbsp;minister&nbsp;after&nbsp;a mysterious one-month absence from duties barely half a year into the job.
He was&nbsp;China's&nbsp;top envoy in Washington from July 2021 until January this year.
(Reporting by Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru, Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Neil Fullick and Michael Perry)

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China's ex-Foreign Minister Qin Gang was ousted after alleged affair, WSJ reports