They believed the appointment was largely a reward for Luo, who helped bring bilateral ties back on track following one of the worst border disputes in decades between the two Asian giants in the Himalayas two years ago.

Luo, who hosted an official farewell reception in New Delhi on Monday, will be in charge of Beijing’s relations with its Asian neighbours, replacing Kong Xuanyou, who on Tuesday was named China’s new ambassador to Japan.

Kong, an ethnic Korean who will turn 60 in July, is a fluent Japanese speaker and Beijing’s point man for defusing tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear provocations.

There had been speculation for months that he would succeed China’s longest serving envoy to Japan, Cheng Yonghua, 64, who was posted to Tokyo in early 2010 and has reached retirement age.

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Like his predecessor, Luo, 57, has risen through the foreign ministry ranks, holding various posts at Chinese diplomatic missions in Singapore, the US and India since the mid-1980s, according to the ministry website.

He was head of the Department of Asian Affairs at the ministry over a decade ago and was Chinese ambassador to Pakistan and Canada before taking over from Le Yucheng in India in 2016.

Luo also follows in Le’s footsteps to take a deputy foreign minister job – Le went on to become Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s top deputy.

A Russian expert, Le, 56, was posted to India just days ahead of Xi’s first official visit to the country in September 2014. He became executive deputy foreign minister late last year after a two-year stint as a deputy to Yang Jiechi, China’s top-ranking diplomat, at the Central Foreign Affairs Office.

Sun Weidong, former Chinese ambassador to Pakistan and now head of the Policy Planning Department, is tipped to become Beijing’s new envoy to India.

Analysts believe the reshuffle is part of a generational shift in Beijing’s diplomatic establishment that has been under way for the past two years amid concerns about an ageing senior line-up and a lack of younger talent.

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Chinese experts said the promotions of Le and Luo showed the significance the leadership attached to its relations with India at a time when ties with the United States and Europe were deteriorating.

“With Washington escalating its trade war with China and trying to promote its Indo-Pacific strategy – which apparently targets China – Beijing needs New Delhi more than ever despite their long-running territorial disputes and deep-rooted geopolitical differences,” said Pang Zhongying, a Beijing-based international relations expert.

“Against this backdrop, Luo apparently has been credited with helping steady Sino-Indian relations for the past two years,” he added.

Bilateral ties saw a marked improvement following Modi’s two China trips last year.

Wang Dehua, head of the Institute for South and Central Asia Studies at the Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies, said Beijing’s priority was to prevent New Delhi from siding with Washington on trade and a host of geostrategic issues.

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“Frankly speaking, India, as a major regional power, is unlikely to become China’s friend, and most of the outstanding issues such as border disputes are hardly going to see breakthroughs, any time soon,” he said.

“That’s why we need to be realistic and patient in dealing with India and try our best to accommodate New Delhi’s strategic interests and concerns … [to] help woo India away from Washington’s political orbit on sensitive issues such as trade and its Indo-Pacific strategy.”