Syria’s Assad to visit China on Thursday to engage in a Summit Level Talks with Xi Jinping.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will lead a high-level delegation to China on Thursday, the Syrian presidency announced, marking his first visit to China since the breakout of the deadly Syrian civil war over 12 years ago.
The visit comes at an official request of Chinese President Xi Jinping and “will include a number of meetings and events” held by Assad and Xi in Beijing and Hangzhou, the Syrian presidency said on Tuesday. Among the scheduled events is a Syrian-Chinese summit.
China has repeatedly sided with Syria on issues regarding the Syrian civil war, especially at the UN Security Council where Beijing, along with Moscow, have in the past abstained from resolutions to extend an aid delivery mechanism to rebel-held areas in the northwest of the country, drawing widespread condemnation from other council member states.
It is also six months after a landmark Chinese-brokered deal that saw regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, an Assad ally, restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after a seven-year hiatus.
The restoration of ties between Riyadh and Tehran resulted in a favorable approach from Saudi towards Syria’s admission into the Arab League, after which Damascus was readmitted into the league after a 12-year hiatus.
Syrians rose up against the Assad regime in March 2011, leading to a full-scale civil war that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Syrian people and has left millions more in need of humanitarian assistance.
Bashar al-Assad after Syrian Civil War:
Assad reemerged as an even more authoritative leader with firmness in policy matters. To demonstrate this firmness, Assad skillfully opted various forums to project his soft power and gave interviews to many TV channels and senior anchor persons through out the world. Even at the height of crisis when whole world community was demanding him to step down he stood firm with the backing of Iran and Russia but also due to his strong resistant personality. Now, this is a great opportunity for Assad to reap the fruit of his resistance and [brutality]. The captagon drug has considerably compelled leaders to deal with Syria on One-on-One level to discuss measures to mitigate this issue.
