China's decision to reappoint its top diplomat Wang Yi as foreign minister one month after former rising star Qin Gang disappeared from public view means Washington will be dealing with a familiar face in its bid to steady relations with its main strategic rival.
But Wang's return to a post he held for most of the past decade is unlikely to alter the trajectory of a troubled bilateral relationship or dispel concerns about the opaque workings of President Xi Jinping's government, Reuters reported.
The removal of Qin, reputedly a Xi protege, on Tuesday came barely half a year after he assumed the role. The 57-year-old former ambassador to the United States and Xi aide took over the ministry in December but has not been seen in public since June 25 when he met visiting diplomats in Beijing.
The ministry has said he was off work for health reasons but has given no details.
Wang, known in Washington for his sharp intellect and his sometimes aggressive defense of China's positions, has been a fixture in U.S.-China relations for years.
Washington-based analysts say Wang's return to the ministry should help China's foreign ministry resume normal operations after weeks of international speculation about Qin's fate.
But it is unlikely to yield any major improvement in tense U.S.-China relations, which have hit their lowest point in decades.
"None of this changes the structural reasons for friction in the relationship," said Joseph Torigian, an expert on China's Communist leaders at American University in Washington.
China's embassy in Washington did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
At a briefing on Tuesday U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said it was up to China to choose its foreign minister and Blinken had met Wang multiple times.
Wang's second stint as foreign minister suggests an eagerness in Beijing for stable U.S. relations ahead of Xi's likely meetings with U.S. President Joe Biden later this year on the sidelines of global summits, including the G20 in India in September and a gathering of APEC leaders in California in November.
"With a series of major international meetings coming up, Xi defaulted to someone who has relationships with many of his foreign counterparts," said Rorry Daniels, Managing Director of Asia Society Policy Institute. "In times of uncertainty, China wants continuity and predictability in this position."
U.S. and Chinese diplomats are grappling with a range of contentious issues, including China's increasingly aggressive actions over Taiwan, the self-governed island it claims as its own, and the United States' export controls aimed at hobbling China's ability to develop advanced semiconductors.
Given these challenges, Wang's seniority in China's ruling Communist Party could be helpful to the U.S.
In the Chinese system, the top diplomat is not foreign minister but rather the director of the Chinese Communist Party's foreign affairs commission, a role Wang will continue to hold.
Jude Blanchette, a China expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Wang's concurrent perch atop the country's two top foreign policy positions removed a layer of bureaucracy for U.S. interlocutors.
And as a member of the Communist Party's 24-man ruling Politburo, Wang is a diplomat with arguably more sway with China's top leaders than his predecessor.
Even while Qin was foreign minister, Blinken had contacts with Wang, though exchanges had been frosty at times, particularly after an alleged Chinese spy balloon crossed U.S. airspace and was shot down earlier this year, prompting Wang to scold Washington for its "hysterical" reaction, Reuters reported.
Still, Wang's reappointment is a sign of problems in China's foreign policy establishment, said Blanchette.
"The bigger story here is the sheer unpredictability and opacity of the Chinese system, which can see a top foreign policy official be thrown into a black hole for a month with absolutely zero information from Beijing," he said.
On Tuesday, content mentioning Qin was quickly removed from China's foreign ministry website after Wang's appointment. The tab on the website that typically holds the biography of the foreign minister simply read "Updating."
The choice of Wang for the role also reflected a lack of good options for Beijing, said Craig Singleton, deputy director of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
"Simply put, there remains a dearth of seasoned Chinese diplomats that are both trusted by Xi and possess the requisite U.S. experience for this highly visible role," he said.
Earlier this week, U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said Pakistan’s development of long-range ballistic missiles made it an “emerging threat”.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry on Saturday dismissed as unfounded and "devoid of rationality" assertions by a senior U.S. official that its missile programme could eventually pose a threat to the United States, Reuters reported.
Earlier this week, U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said Pakistan's development of long-range ballistic missiles made it an "emerging threat".
Finer's comments, which came a day after Washington announced a new round of sanctions related to the ballistic missile programme, underscored the deterioration in once-close ties between Washington and Islamabad since the 2021 U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Addressing Finer's remarks, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the perception of an alleged threat was "unfortunate".
"These allegations are unfounded, devoid of rationality and sense of history," the ministry added in a statement.
The ministry said its strategic capabilities were solely for defending its sovereignty and maintaining regional stability, and should not be perceived as a threat to any other country.
It also highlighted Pakistan's long history of cooperation with the U.S., particularly in counter-terrorism efforts, and reiterated its commitment to engaging constructively on all issues, including regional security and stability, read the report.
Relations between the United States and Pakistan have seen significant ups and downs. The countries collaborated during the Cold War and in the fight against al Qaeda after 9/11.
However, ties have been strained due to coups in the South Asian country by Pakistan's military, support for the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule in Afghanistan, and over the nuclear weapons programme.
Sixteen security personnel were killed in northwest Pakistan in an attack by militants, Reuters reported citing the deputy superintendent of police.
"According to our information, 16 security personnel were martyred and eight injured in this attack. A search operation is under way in the area," said Hidayat Ullah, deputy superintendent of police in South Waziristan.
Speaking to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Finer said Pakistan has pursued “increasingly sophisticated missile technology, from long-range ballistic missile systems to equipment, that would enable the testing of significantly larger rocket motors.”
A senior White House official on Thursday said nuclear-armed Pakistan is developing long-range ballistic missile capabilities that eventually could allow it to strike targets well beyond South Asia, making it an "emerging threat" to the United States.
Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer's surprise revelation underscored how far the once-close ties between Washington and Islamabad have deteriorated since the 2021 U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Reuters reported.
It also raised questions about whether Pakistan has shifted the objectives of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs long intended to counter those of India, with which it has fought three major wars since 1947.
Speaking to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Finer said Pakistan has pursued "increasingly sophisticated missile technology, from long-range ballistic missile systems to equipment, that would enable the testing of significantly larger rocket motors."
If those trends continue, Finer said, "Pakistan will have the capability to strike targets well beyond South Asia, including in the United States."
The number of nuclear-armed states with missiles that can reach the U.S. homeland "is very small and they tend to be adversarial," he continued, naming Russia, North Korea and China.
"So, candidly, it's hard for us to see Pakistan's actions as anything other than an emerging threat to the United States," Finer said.
His speech came a day after Washington announced a new round of sanctions related to Pakistan's ballistic missile development program, including for the first time against the state-run defense agency that oversees the program.
The Pakistani embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Islamabad casts its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs as deterrents against Indian aggression and intended to maintain regional stability.
Two senior administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the U.S. concerns with Pakistan's missile program have been long-standing and stemmed from the sizes of the rocket engines being developed.
The threat posed to the United States is up to a decade away, said one official.
Finer's comments, the officials said, were intended to press Pakistani officials to address why they are developing more powerful rocket engines, something they have refused to do.
"They don't acknowledge our concerns. They tell us we are biased," said the second U.S. official, adding that Pakistani officials have wrongly implied that U.S. sanctions on their missile program are intended "to handicap their ability to defend against India."
Finer included himself among senior U.S. officials who he said repeatedly have raised concerns about the missile program with top Pakistani officials to no avail.
Washington and Islamabad, he noted, had been "long-time partners" on development, counter-terrorism and security.
"That makes us question even more why Pakistan will be motivated to develop a capability that could be used against us."
Pakistan has been critical of warm ties U.S. President Joe Biden has forged with its long-time foe India, and maintains close ties with China. Some Chinese entities have been slapped with U.S. sanctions for supplying Islamabad's ballistic missile program.
It conducted its first nuclear weapons test in 1998 - more than 20 years after India's first test blast - and has built an extensive arsenal of ballistic missiles capable of lofting nuclear warheads.
The Bulletin of the American Scientists research organization estimates that Pakistan has a stockpile of about 170 warheads.
U.S.-Pakistani relations have undergone major ups and downs, including close Cold War ties that saw them support Afghan rebels against the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
Pakistan also was a key partner in the U.S. fight against al Qaeda following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, and has been a major non-NATO ally since 2004.
But ties also have been hurt by coups staged by the Pakistani military, its support for the Islamic Emirate's 1996-2001 rule and its nuclear weapons program.
Several experts said Finer's speech came as a major surprise.
"For a senior U.S. official to publicly link concerns about proliferation in Pakistan to a future direct threat to the U.S. homeland - this is a mighty dramatic development," said Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center think tank.
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