The Syrian President’s visit to Beijing Objectives & Common Interests

Introduction:

Relations between China and Syria go back thousands of years. Since the establishment of the Silk Road project. China was the starting point for the movement of silk, spices trade caravans to Syria and from Syria to Europe. This established a long history of commercial and cultural relations between the two countries.

The Syrian President’s visit to China on Thursday is not the first. The two parties have swapped several visits before.

The Chinese President visited Damascus in 2001 and the Syrian President visited Beijing in 2004, and within these mutual visits the relationship between the two parties was strengthened.

China supported the regime in the current crisis and used its veto power repeatedly in the Security Council (along with Russia) against the resolutions that the United Nations tried to issue against the Syrian regime in the current crisis.

As part of the agreement between the two countries, China built the free industrial city in the Adra area near Damascus. Due to its size, it constituted the first gateway for Beijing to enter Syria and the Middle East. The city is a large industrial and investment complex that includes about 600 factories for about 200 Chinese companies. It is in the form of an industrial colony to produce a large number of goods and industrial products. It is distributed to about 17 countries in the Middle East and Europe, and the city includes huge display stores. On an area of 500 thousand square meters as a private free trade zone, the goods and production of these companies can be delivered in no more than ten days to their customers, while their arrival from China requires about 40 days.

This complex gives China an important opportunity to enter markets at a lower cost.

The second Chinese strategic step towards Syria is the signing of the head of the Syrian Planning and International Cooperation Authority with the Chinese ambassador in January 2022. It aims to officially include Syria in the Belt and Road Initiative, which will link China with Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf, all the way to Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean. It is a Chinese tool funded with a value of one trillion dollars (one thousand billion dollars) to smoothly enter the Middle East and Africa under the guise of strategic development.

The question is:

What does China want from Syria? What does Syria want from China???!!!!!

In order to answer this question, the two questions must be separated as follows:

First: What does China want from Syria?

To answer this question, we must realize that Syria’s geographical and geostrategic location is very important to China because of Syria’s location on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and in the heart of the Middle East. Because of its proximity to the sources of oil in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf and Iraq, which is an important gateway to Europe, not only that, but Syria could be a suitable foothold to realize the Chinese dream of reaching the shore of the Mediterranean and thus controlling trade around the world. This will achieve Beijing’s superiority on the economic and political levels and achieve its a strategic dimension as a front line to confront America in the future.

Therefore, Beijing is trying to use all soft tools to establish its footing in the Middle East. As is the case in its strategic relationship with Iran and its new relationship with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, this political development and transformation achieves a greater goal for China, which is to reach Europe via Syria and the Mediterranean.

But we must realize that China is not in a rush on this issue and does not want to draw America’s attention to this soft infiltration, and that is why China is following a policy (step by step), soft policy and quiet diplomacy through cultural and trade relations, the exchange of scholarships, and long-term agreements with Syria and others in Middle East region.

Although China did not intervene militarily in the Syrian crisis, it intervened diplomatically by using its veto power several times (as we mentioned previously).

Israel also believes that China’s intentions in Syria are controversial and that Tel Aviv has concerns about the Syrian-Chinese relationship.

Beijing is working to open up the Arab countries to the Syrian regime, and within these policies, China deals with the Syrian regime and works to resolve the conflict in Syria through a political solution. We can say that Beijing is moving slowly in Syria, but with a strategic plan to expand its presence in the Middle East.

Second: What does Syria want from China?

No doubt that Al-Assad’s meeting with the Chinese President during this visit will be a summit meeting and a meeting to discuss the prospects for economic cooperation between the two countries. The goal is to sign a number of bilateral economic agreements and strengthen military relations.

The Syrian newspaper Al-Watan reported that there were unannounced reasons for the visit.

The truth point is that the Syrian regime believes that there are similarity points between the Syrian and Chinese regimes (two totalitarian regimes……) and this is an additional factor for the understanding between the two countries.

During his visit to China in June 2004, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad expressed his respect for Chinese culture and its ancient history and praised the huge achievements made by China on the cultural, economic and social levels. And during his meeting with the Chinese President on the previous visit, Al-Assad said, “Syria welcomes Chinese institutions and companies to invest and participate in building the Syrian economy.”

According to the Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper (close to Hezbollah), President Al-Assad is likely to accompany a high-level Syrian delegation to the Chinese capital, Beijing, to hold high-level meetings with Chinese officials in order to develop bilateral relations between the two countries and the potential Chinese role in helping Syria overcome its economic crisis.

Obtaining foreign money has become one of Damascus’s top priorities because local financial sources have dried up, are on the way to running out, or have mostly run out. The regime believes that the weakness of the Syrian economy at the present time is the main reason for the renewed problems in Syria, and therefore it sees China as a lifeline for solving urgent Syrian problems.

It can be said that the regime, by virtue of its long continuation of playing on the Russian-Iranian competition together and draining them economically, and then its inability to pay the debts accumulated on it by both parties, and thus being forced to sign on investment contracts for most of its economic facilities and hand them over to the Russians and Iranians, has become dependent in its economic decision on them. And for this reason, it no longer has Special resources after the Russians completely stopped supporting it economically due to the war with Ukraine, and Iran refrained from supporting it financially due to sanctions and weak resources. Therefore, the regime is currently seeking to bring China, at least economically, deep into Syria to obtain financial aid at any cost, and it may find an outlet in Chinese material assistance and a lifeline.

According to Al-Akhbar newspaper, Al-Assad wants Beijing to act its economic promises, especially at this critical stage for the regime, which coincides with the protests in Suwayda and southern Syria against the backdrop of deteriorating living conditions, economic collapse, and lack of purchasing power in local markets.

The second question that arises is:

Will Beijing respond to Assad’s requests, and will the visit bring about unprecedented changes in Syria?

Certainly, that Beijing will be positive and generous with Assad, especially since it has sent him a private plane to take him, his wife, and their accompanying delegation to Beijing (perhaps in honor of the Syrian president and his wife, or out of fear for their lives, it makes no difference). China will meet their necessary financial and economic requests but reservedly, or perhaps give him a loan of up to $500 million dollars or a billion, no more. Beijing will not risk putting all its weight in the Syrian issue with the presence of America before the crisis is resolved.

The third question is:

Will the interests of Russia and Iran conflict with Beijing’s interests in Syrian, and will both Russia and Iran accept China’s participation in the Syrian cake?

I believe that a common goal links the three parties, which is to compete with America and protect the regime for their economic, geopolitical, and strategic purposes, and therefore their interests will not conflict in the foreseeable future.