Others say they see a different pattern. “Romney keeps staking out positions that are meant to be sharply at odds with Obama, but also happen to be at odds with what he would have to do if he were president,” said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East adviser to five secretaries of state going back to the Reagan administration.

In several cases, Mr. Romney has cut against the views of his top advisers. One of his veteran foreign-policy hands, former George W. Bush official Mitchell Reiss, spoke approvingly of Obama administration outreach to the Taliban in January. Sen. John McCain, one of Mr. Romney’s top supporters, also supports talks with the former Afghan leaders who were ousted by the U.S. after Sept. 11, 2001…

Mr. Romney has been critical of Obama policies toward China, accusing Mr. Obama of being a “near supplicant to Beijing.” He has promised to impose sanctions on China over its currency policies on his first day in office.

But Robert Kagan, another of Mr. Romney’s top foreign-policy aides, has singled out Mr. Obama’s diplomacy in Asia as one of the White House’s chief foreign-policy accomplishments. Two of Mr. Romney’s top economic advisers, Glenn Hubbard and Greg Mankiw, have also urged a softer line toward China on its currency.