As China Tries to Present a Friendlier Image, a New Face Emerges

Faced with declining foreign investment at home, China has sought to soften its image in the United States and Europe and make nice with some of its neighbors. One Communist Party official has played an unusually prominent role in the shift in tone.

In New York, he told an audience of scholars and businesspeople that China did not seek to rewrite the United States-led global order. In Paris, he said that China’s modernization would benefit Europe and the world. In Beijing, he told the ambassador of India, a regional rival, that China hoped relations would “return to a healthy and stable” track.

The official, Liu Jianchao, heads the Communist Party’s diplomatic arm, a body that promotes the party’s ideology and influence abroad. His recent engagements suggest to analysts, however, that he has been auditioning for the role of China’s next foreign minister.

For Beijing, appointing a new foreign minister, potentially as soon as in March during a legislative meeting, would help steady the country’s diplomatic apparatus after a dramatic shake-up last year.

In July, the party abruptly ousted Qin Gang, then the foreign minister, amid speculation that he had been in a romantic relationship that potentially compromised national security. Mr. Qin’s predecessor, Wang Yi, was reappointed to the post; Mr. Wang is also the director of the party’s commission on foreign affairs, a position usually held by a different person than the foreign minister.