Regional

A familiar face for the US as China’s Wang returns as foreign minister

Published

3 years ago

July 26, 2023

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.

Regional

Saudi Arabia says debris from intercepted missiles falls in Mecca region

The missiles were launched towards the region and intercepted and destroyed, Saudi Arabia’s civil defence said in a statement.

Published

10 hours ago

November 12, 2026

Ariana News

Saudi Arabia said debris from two ballistic missiles intercepted by its air defences fell in the Mecca ‌region on Wednesday, as the kingdom and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis continued to trade attacks in an escalating conflict.

Saudi state television identified the locations as Sabuhah village, about 35 km (22 miles) northeast of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, and Wadi al-Maghmas, about 21 km east of the ⁠mosque, Reuters reported.

The missiles were launched towards the region and intercepted and destroyed, Saudi Arabia’s civil defence said in a statement.

The Houthis have repeatedly denied Saudi accusations that they target Mecca and Medina, Islam’s two holiest cities, saying their military operations are directed at military and strategic targets elsewhere in Saudi Arabia.

Mecca, home to sites sacred to Muslims worldwide, is the focal point of the annual hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam, which ‌millions ⁠of Muslims undertake each year.

“This hostile targeting of civilian objects constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and reflects the dangerous hostile approach pursued by the Houthi militia,” Saudi Arabia’s civil defence said early on Thursday.

The Houthis seized ⁠Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting Saudi Arabia to intervene militarily the following year in support of the internationally recognised government.

A UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely froze ⁠the conflict, but hostilities resumed earlier this year, with the Houthis launching missile and drone attacks on Saudi territory and Riyadh carrying out airstrikes ⁠in Yemen.

The latest escalation has threatened the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping route linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Regional

Iran defends two-day proposal for peace talks after US rejects conditions

Iran defended a proposal on Monday to restart peace talks in as few as two days as the ‌most reasonable offer on the table, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called some of Iran’s conditions “outrageous and ridiculous”.

Published

3 days ago

November 9, 2026

Ariana News

“Is it unreasonable that Iran demands that US illegal sanctions ⁠and its naval blockade must be lifted before negotiations start and that the war should end on all fronts?” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told a weekly press conference in response to Rubio’s remarks.

Iran defended a proposal on Monday to restart peace talks in as few as two days as the ‌most reasonable offer on the table, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called some of Iran’s conditions “outrageous and ridiculous”.

Regional

Explosions heard in areas in southern Iran, Iranian media report

Earlier on Saturday, Tasnim news agency ‌said ⁠two missiles struck Qeshm Island with no official information on possible damage.

Published

4 days ago

November 8, 2026

Ariana News

Explosions were heard on Saturday evening in several areas in southern Iran, including on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state television reported.

Iran’s state TV suggested that the explosions might be linked to ‌Iranian military activities in the strategic waterway, which has become subject to repeated attacks on commercial shipping since the war erupted between the US and Iran in February.

It said Iranian officials have not confirmed any missile strikes on the areas, while the semi-official Tasnim news agency cited a source as saying that the explosions heard on Qeshm ⁠Island were not related to missile strikes.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy said early on Sunday that two oil tankers were on fire after hitting mines as they attempted to pass through an “unauthorized route” in the strait. It was not immediately clear if the incidents referred to by the IRGC were linked to the sound of explosions heard in southern Iranian areas.

Iran has hit vessels it says have violated its restrictions on passage through the waterway, as it seeks to assert control over the strait and exert pressure on Washington.

Earlier on Saturday, Tasnim news agency ‌said ⁠two missiles struck Qeshm Island with no official information on possible damage.

The reported explosions come days after the US carried out strikes on the island. A US official said those strikes were limited and not a resumption of major combat operations.

The US military said on Saturday evening that its forces disabled a commercial ⁠vessel that tried to get through the US blockade of Iran.

The US Central Command said one of its aircraft fired at the vessel’s stern and disabled the ship after it attempted to violate the ⁠blockade.

Countries in the region had been anticipating that US President Donald Trump, who has held off on strikes on Iran during the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s midterm elections, could ⁠restart attacks once the voting was over. Iran has repeatedly said it would respond to new attacks by striking at US and Israeli targets in neighboring countries.