Since 25 June, when he conferred with visiting diplomats in Beijing, Qin, 57, had not been seen in public for the first time since he was appointed ambassador to the United States in December.

After missing an international diplomatic summit in Indonesia, his ministry subsequently stated that he was absent from work for unspecified health reasons, but the lack of specifics fueled a whirlwind of rumours.

According to analysts and diplomats, it also increased suspicions regarding the transparency and decision-making of the country’s cloistered leadership.

Wang, who filled in for Qin during his absence, reclaims the position he held from 2018 to 2022.

The Chinese foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the switch’s causes.

It coincides with a flurry of international engagements and frayed relations with rival superpower the United States, which Beijing has characterised as being at their lowest point since the establishment of diplomatic relations.

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The world’s two largest economies are at variance over a variety of issues, including Taiwan, a democratic, self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own and Beijing’s close ties to Moscow.

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