It seems to me that the use of 'in' rather than 'of' is better in the sentence below but I am struggling to explain why.
It presents a change in China's role in the Middle East.
or
It presents a change of China's role in the Middle East.
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To me, they are different in scope. A change in a role says that the role is basically the same, but some details have changed. A chane of a role says that the role has been replaced by a new role.– Colin FineCommented Nov 8, 2020 at 16:28
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2 Answers
a change in something:
Examples:
- a change in the schedule
- a change in the weather
- a change in behavior
- a change in China's role
- a change in John's attitude
- changes in behavior
- changes in attitude
All of the above imply an existing thing in which a change occurs.
Examples:
- a change of heart
- a change of scenery
- a change of clothes
- a change of guards
All the above imply that the nouns (heart, scenery, clothes) are replaced by another object of the same category.
It represents a change in China' role in the Middle East.
is idiomatic. If the repetition of "in" bothers you stylistically, you can try
It changes China's role in the Middle East.
If you are really talking about symbols, so "represents" is necessary, you can try
It represents China's changed role in the Middle East.
Edited to correspond to the edited question.
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I apologize. I had written the two sentences incorrectly and have now changed them accordingly. Commented Jul 8, 2020 at 21:00