Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in China today for his first visit to the country in nearly 20 years, aiming to win more financial support from Beijing to rebuild his country.

Assad’s previous visit to China took place in 2004 and was the first by a Syrian leader to the country since the start of bilateral diplomatic relations in 1956.

The Air China plane carrying Assad landed at Hangzhou city airport at 1:15 p.m. (local time, 8:15 a.m. Greek time), according to images broadcast by state-run CCTV.

The war in Syria has caused massive damage to the country’s infrastructure and destroyed critical sectors of the economy, such as oil production, while Damascus is subject to severe international sanctions.

China is among Assad’s allies and has mainly supported him in the UN Security Councilrepeatedly preferring to abstain from voting on resolutions condemning the Syrian regime.

The Syrian president will attend the opening ceremony of the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Saturday, where Chinese President Xi Jinping will also meet with other foreign leaders.

“This visit is a significant change in the diplomatic isolation” of Syria, political scientist Osama Danoura said from Damascus.

The Assad government managed in 2023 to achieve its diplomatic rapprochement with many Arab countries, after years of isolation due to the war.

The goal is legalization

The normalization of relations with Arab countries led in May to the return of Damascus to the Arab League and the participation of Assad in a summit in Saudi Arabia.

“Assad intends to provide some international legitimacy to his regime and give the image of China’s direct support for the reconstruction of Syria,” noted Lina Khatib, director of the Middle East program at the SOAS institute at the University of London.

The timing is even more important after protests have erupted in Sweida, western Syria, demanding Assad’s departure.

By talking to countries like Syria, which the US wants to isolate, “China is breaking Western taboos,” Danoura added.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose country is subject to US sanctions, visited Beijing last week, while a Taliban government delegation is currently in China. Earlier this year, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and his Iranian counterpart Ebraim Raishi visited China.

“Huge potential”

Beijing is strengthening its presence in the Middle East, a region of strategic importance to the US, by promoting its ambitious Silk Roads plan, under which it is making massive investments in infrastructure development to improve trade links between Asia, Europe and Africa.

Syria joined this plan in January 2022 and hopes to see significant economic benefits.

Assad’s visit is aimed at “convincing” China to participate in the reconstruction of Syria despite its “reservations”, mainly in terms of security, estimates Syria analyst Heid Heid at Chatham House.

The Syrian army has recaptured most of Syrian territory, thanks to crucial military aid from Russia and Iran, but now the government needs investment to rebuild.

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

“China has enormous potential for reconstruction and can complete infrastructure projects very quickly,” Danoura noted.