On Thursday, Syrian President Bashar Al Assad began his first official trip to China, where he is expected to seek financial support to help rebuild his Syria.
Assad arrived in the eastern city of Hangzhou today, where he will attend the opening ceremony of the Asian Games on Saturday.
The Syrian leader is also expected to visit Beijing and Changzhou and meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Yin Gang, a research fellow at the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Chinese media house Global Times that Assad is expected to “touch on practical cooperation when meeting with Chinese leaders, including the resumption of previous projects such as the construction of reservoirs, oil fields and other infrastructure projects, as well as discussing new potential areas of cooperation.”
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in China on Thursday. Mao Ning, a Chinese FM spokesperson said that since the establishment of diplomatic ties 67 years ago, China-Syria relations have maintained a sound and stable development. President Assad’s visit will further deepen… pic.twitter.com/PVHUh6mqMi
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) September 21, 2023
Significance
This marks Assad’s first visit to China in almost two decades, his last being in 2004.
China is among only a handful of countries outside the Middle East that the Syrian president has visited since the start of the 2011 Syrian war, which has since killed more than half a million people and displaced millions of others. It also ravaged the country’s infrastructure, economy, and industry.
Moreover, Beijing has also extended diplomatic support to Damascus in international fora, such as the UN Security Council, where the Asian power enjoys the status of a permanent member.
Meanwhile, China has recently hosted several leaders who have been ostracised by the West, including Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Beijing is also set to welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin next month.
China in the Middle East
Assad’s visit comes amid Beijing’s attempts to extend its influence in the Middle East, where China has been looking to increase its clout by slowly filling in the void left by the US.
This March, China facilitated talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which led to the two countries agreeing to reopen embassies in their respective countries after a gap of seven years. The move was viewed as a major diplomatic victory for Beijing.
In March 2022, it was reported that Saudi Arabia is considering the prospect of pricing oil sales to China in Yuan instead of the United States Dollar. Saudi Arabia is the biggest supplier of crude oil to China, which imports around 16% of its crude oil from the Kingdom. Furthermore, China imports 25% of Saudi Arabia’s total oil exports. Chinese oil companies have also signed several agreements with Aramco for supplying new refineries and petrochemical plants in China.
In December 2021, US intelligence agencies reported that Saudi Arabia is manufacturing ballistic missiles with the help of China. Per reports, Riyadh had “sought help” from the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, the Chinese military’s missile branch, to assist with the production.
In March 2021, China also signed a 25-year “strategic cooperation” agreement with Iran. The pact gave Beijing a major foothold in the Middle East, where it can expand its flagship Belt and Road Initiative.
China has also said that it would be willing to hold peace talks between Israel and Palestine.