Syria’s Assad in China seeks exit from diplomatic isolation. Bashar al-Assad landed in Hangzhou, China, for his first visit since 2004, seeking to overcome more than a decade of diplomatic isolation due to Western sanctions.

Assad came on an Air China plane in heavy fog, which Chinese state media said “added to the atmosphere of mystery” about his rare appearances outside Syria since the start of a civil conflict that has killed over half a million people.
He will attend the Asian Games opening ceremony with more than a dozen foreign dignitaries before leading a trip to numerous Chinese cities for discussions, including a summit with President Xi Jinping.

An official from the Syrian delegation said Assad will meet Xi on Friday, a day before the games’ inauguration. The delegation will also meet in Beijing on Sunday and Monday.

Being seen with China’s president at a regional gathering should legitimize Syria’s steady comeback to the world scene, which includes joining China’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2022 and rejoining the 22-nation Arab League in May.

Syrian President Assad last visited China in 2004 to meet Hu Jintao. Syrian leaders made their first visit since 1956.

Like Syria’s primary allies, Russia and Iran, China maintained such connections as other nations shunned Assad during his brutal 2011 crackdown on anti-government protests.

Assad’s days-long trip to China will be his longest absence from Syria since the civil war.

Assad faces sanctions from Australia, Canada, Europe, Switzerland, and the U.S., but multilateral sanctions failed to gain U.N. Security Council backing, which China and Russia are members of.

China has vetoed at least eight U.N. motions criticizing Assad’s government and seeking to end the decade-old multisided conflict that has engulfed neighbors and world powers.

Unlike Iran and Russia, China has not explicitly aided the regime’s power grab.

Over 200,000 civilians have died since the war began, triggering refugee and drug smuggling problems the Arab League is pressuring Damascus to tackle. U.N.-commissioned investigators blame Russian bombardment and Iran-backed militias.

Oil Assets

Syria is vital for China because it is between Iraq, which supplies a tenth of its oil, Turkey, the terminus of commercial routes from Asia to Europe, and Jordan, which mediates regional issues.

Syria produces little oil, yet the Assad administration relies on it.

Due to Beijing’s demand for global oil and gas assets, Sinopec Corp, Sinochem, and CNPC invested $3 billion in Syria in 2008 and 2009.

Sinopec bought Tanganyika Oil, a tiny heavy oil producer, for $2 billion and Emerald Energy, a London-based company with operations in Syria and Colombia, for approximately $900 million.

Gulfsands Petroleum says Sinochem left Syria in 2011. Officials said CNPC stopped producing oil at many small blocks in 2014 due to E.U. sanctions and U.S. deployment to Syria to fight the Islamic State.