For years, Syrian ruler Assad was internationally isolated. But not from China: the country maintained relations. With a first visit in two decades, Beijing wants to “take relations to a new level.”
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad is visiting China again for the first time in almost 20 years. Chinese state media reported that he arrived in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. He is scheduled to take part in the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games there on Saturday.
According to the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping will also be there. The games last until October 8th. Athletes from more than 40 Asian nations compete against each other in 61 disciplines.
Beijing wants to “take relations to a new level”
“We believe that President Bashar al-Assad’s visit will further deepen mutual political trust and cooperation between the two countries in various fields and take bilateral relations to a new level,” spokeswoman Mao Ning said in Beijing.
According to the Syrian presidential office, Assad and his delegation are also expected in other Chinese cities. A meeting with Xi and other Chinese leaders is also on the agenda. A banquet is also planned with the international guests, which include Assad, Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mischal al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah and South Korea’s Prime Minister Han Duck Soo.
China maintained relations despite civil war
The Syrian ruler was last in the East Asian country in 2004. It was the first visit by a Syrian head of state to the People’s Republic since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1956.
With his trip to China, the 58-year-old continues a slow return to the diplomatic stage. After a decade of extensive isolation, Assad took part in a summit of the Arab League in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in mid-May, marking the first time in a major international meeting.
Because of his brutal crackdown on the protests in 2011 and the civil war that followed, Assad was largely isolated on the international stage for years. However, China, like Assad’s most important allies Russia and Iran, maintained relations with Syria. In the UN Security Council, China used its veto right eight times to stop resolutions against Assad’s government – most recently in July 2020.