Chinese President Xi Jinping met with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Al-Assad on Friday, Chinese state media reported.
Al-Assad embarked on his first official trip to China in nearly two decades on Thursday as he sought financial support to rebuild his country devastated by civil war.
The Syrian president will take part in the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou on Saturday.
“Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad on Friday in Hangzhou, the capital of eastern China’s Zhejiang province,” state news agency Xinhua reported.
Xi Jinping told Al-Assad that the two would “jointly announce the establishment of the China-Syria strategic partnership, which will become an important milestone in the history of bilateral relations,” according to state television station CCTV.
“Facing an international situation full of instability and uncertainty, China is willing to continue to cooperate with Syria, provide firm mutual support, promote friendly cooperation and jointly uphold international equality and justice,” he added.
Relations between the two countries “have stood the test of international changes. And the friendship between the two countries has been strengthened over time,” the Chinese president said.
CCTV footage showed the leaders of the two countries flanked by nine aides each at a large rectangular table, while the flags of the two countries stood in front of a Chinese painting in the meeting room.
China is one of the few countries outside the Middle East that Assad has visited since the civil war began in 2011, which killed more than half a million people, displaced millions and destroyed Syria’s infrastructure and industry.
The Chinese government said on Thursday that the Syrian president’s visit would take ties between the two countries to a “new level”. “We believe that President Bashar Al-Assad’s visit will further deepen mutual political trust and cooperation in various fields between the two countries, taking bilateral ties to a new level,” ministry spokesman Mao Ning said of Foreign Affairs at a press conference.
“China and Syria have a traditional and deep friendship,” Mao said, adding that Syria was one of the first Arab countries to establish diplomatic relations with China.
“Since the establishment of diplomatic relations 67 years ago, China-Syria relations have achieved healthy and stable development,” he stressed, noting that Assad “also attaches great importance to the development of China-Syria relations.”
China could play an important role in the future in Syria’s reconstruction, which is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars. Last year, the Middle Eastern country joined the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, a mega infrastructure project launched by Beijing that aims to expand its influence through the construction of ports, railways or highways.
Assad’s office previously said the Syrian leader had been invited by his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to visit China, accompanied by a high-level Syrian delegation.
Syria’s worsening economic crisis has sparked protests in government-controlled parts of the country, especially in the southern province of Sweida. Syria has blamed the crisis on Western sanctions and Kurdish-led fighters, who control the country’s largest oil fields in the east, near the border with Iraq.
Diplomatic contacts between Damascus and other Arab capitals have intensified following the February 6 earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, killing more than 50,000 people, including more than 6,000 in Syria. Assad flew to Saudi Arabia in May, where he took part in the Arab League summit, days after Syria was reintegrated into the multilateral organization made up of 22 Arab states.
Since the conflict in Syria began in March 2011 with pro-democracy protests and later spiraled into civil war, Iran and Russia have helped Assad regain control of much of the country.
China has used its veto power at the UN eight times to block resolutions against the Assad government.
Assad’s last and only visit to China was in 2004, a year after the US-led invasion of Iraq and at a time when Washington was putting pressure on Syria.
In recent years, Assad has made several foreign trips, including visits to Russia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Beijing is expanding its influence in the Middle East after striking a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran in March. The Asian country continues to support Assad in the Syrian conflict, which has killed half a million people and destroyed part of the country. left the country in ruins.
Source: DN
