A month after former growing star Qin Gang vanished from the public eye, China decided to re-appoint Wang Yi as its most senior diplomat, indicating that Washington is going to deal with someone it knows in its effort to normalize relations with its biggest strategic rival.
However, Wang’s return to a position he occupied for the majority of the last ten years is unlikely to change the course of a problematic bilateral relationship or allay worries regarding the dark operations of President Xi Jinping’s administration.
After only six months in the position, Qin—reportedly the assistant of Xi—was fired on Tuesday. The 57-year-old, who served as China’s previous ambassador to the United States and is now an adviser to President Xi, assumed control of the ministry in December yet hasn’t appeared in the media since June 25, when he welcomed foreign diplomats in Beijing.