Assad arrives in China and Putin is coming soon

Earlier today, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad landed on an Air China plane in Hangzhou, where he is set to join Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 at the opening ceremony of the Asian Games on September 23. According to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, leaders from several countries, including Syria, Nepal, South Korea, and Malaysia, will attend the ceremony.

Assad is leading a delegation to several China cities, and will also have a summit with Xi on Friday September 22. This is Assad’s first visit to China since 2004 and a rare foreign trip for Syria’s embattled president since the start of a civil war in 2011.

Assad’s trip adds further legitimacy to Syria’s campaign to return to the world stage: The country joined the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2022 and was readmitted to the Arab League in May 2023. In May this year, after a 12-year suspension, Assad attended the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

China has on at least eight occasions vetoed motions at the United Nations (UN) condemning Assad’s government for its role in Syria’s civil war, but unlike Iran and Russia, China has not directly supported the regime’s efforts to regain control of the country.

While Syria is not a major oil producer by global standards, oil revenue is crucial to the Assad government. After the civil war broke out in 2011, Chinese oil companies like Sinochem and CNPC ceased operations in Syria.

One analyst told Reuters that “Syria has been trying to get investment from China for a long time…but the big question is whether any proposals discussed during this visit will turn into actual projects.”

Putin is on his way

China’s top diplomat Wáng Yì 王毅 yesterday met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on the third day of Wang’s four-day state visit to Russia. Wang made the trip at Russia’s invitation to participate in the 18th round of China-Russia strategic security consultation, per China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the meeting with Wang, Putin accepted an invitation to visit China in October for the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that will be held in Beijing. Putin said “This fully meets and coincides with our interests. In fact, we believe in merging our vision of creating a Greater Eurasian space with the idea of our Chinese friends as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, and we have been quite good at synchronizing our efforts.”

According to the Xinhua report, Putin told Wang that Russia is willing to cooperate with China to resist unipolar hegemony and bloc confrontation, and safeguard international fairness and justice. He said that Russia has overcome the impact of unilateral sanctions imposed by Western countries.

Wang responded by saying that China is willing to work together with Russia, and that both sides need to strengthen their multilateral strategic cooperation and protect their legitimate rights and interests.

The trip in October would be Putin’s first visit back to China since the Winter Olympics in February 2022, when he and Xi vowed a “no limits” partnership less than three weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine. The two leaders met at the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in September 2022, and Xi visited Russia for three days in March 2023.

According to Xinhua, representatives from more than 110 countries have confirmed that they will attend the third Belt and Road Forum.

After the meeting, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, stated that Putin also plans to travel to Turkey, although no dates have been announced; and Putin has also been invited to the G20 summit in India in September, although it’s not yet certain if this will be in-person or virtually.

China, Turkey and India are not signatories to the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 1998.