Isolated on the international scene, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began an official visit to China on Thursday, the first to this country in nearly 20 years, with the hope, according to Beijing, of taking bilateral relations to “a new level” .

The Syrian leader is seeking funds to rebuild the country after a bloody war that led to massive destruction of infrastructure and wiped out several sectors of the economy, while Damascus is under heavy international sanctions.

“We believe that President Bashar al-Assad’s visit will strengthen mutual political trust and cooperation in various sectors between the two countries, taking bilateral ties to a new level,” said the spokesperson of the Ministry of Affairs Chinese foreigners Mao Ning during a press briefing.

“President Xi Jinping and other Chinese officials will meet him” to discuss relations between the two countries and common issues, she added.

China is one of President Assad’s allies and has notably given him its support at the UN Security Council, regularly abstaining from the vote on resolutions antagonizing the Syrian government.

Bashar al-Assad’s last trip to China dates back to 2004, and it was the first visit by a Syrian leader since the establishment of diplomatic relations with Beijing in 1956.

The Syrian president arrived in China aboard an Air China plane, which landed at 1:15 p.m. local time (07:15 a.m. GMT), according to images from state television CCTV at Hangzhou airport (east).

Mr. Assad is scheduled to attend the opening ceremony of the Asian Games there on Saturday, where Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet other foreign leaders, according to the channel.

“This visit represents a significant break in the diplomatic isolation” of Syria, political scientist Oussama Dannoura told AFP from Damascus.

The Assad regime began a rapprochement with many Arab countries in 2023, after years of isolation following the war in his country.

This normalization of relations was confirmed in May by the return of Damascus to the Arab League, and the participation of the Syrian president in a summit in Saudi Arabia.

“Assad intends to confer a certain international legitimacy to his regime and to give the image of imminent support from China for reconstruction in Syria,” warns Lina Khatib, director of the Middle East program at the institute. SOAS at the University of London.

The moment is all the more important after the demonstrations which broke out in Soueida, in southern Syria, to call for the departure of Bashar al-Assad.

By dealing with countries like Syria that Washington seeks to isolate, “China is breaking Western taboos,” says Mr. Dannoura.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose country is placed under American sanctions, was in Beijing last week, while a delegation from the Taliban government is currently in China.

Earlier this year, Beijing rolled out the red carpet for Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Iranian Ebrahim Raïssi.

Senior Russian officials were also received, ahead of a visit by Vladimir Putin to China next month.

Beijing plays a growing role in the Middle East, like the spectacular rapprochement it enabled at the start of the year between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

China, very active in a historically strategic region for the United States, is promoting its ambitious Silk Roads project, which consists of massive investments in infrastructure to improve commercial links between Asia, Europe and Africa.

Syria joined the project in January 2022 and hoped for significant economic benefits.

But this has “still not materialized”, notes Syrian analyst Haid Haid of the Chatham House think tank.

President Assad’s trip to Beijing aims to “convince” China to participate in the reconstruction of Syria despite “reluctance”, particularly regarding security, underlines the expert.

Syrian government forces have retaken most of the territory with crucial military aid from allies Russia and Iran, but the country needs investment for reconstruction.

China pledged in 2017 to invest $2 billion in Syria.

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09/21/2023 16:24:24 –         Hangzhou (Chine) (AFP) –         © 2023 AFP