Syria and China will announce strategic partnership as Asian Games diplomacy kicks off

BEIJING – China and Syria will announce the formation of a strategic partnership, Chinese chief Xi Jinping mentioned Friday at first of a gathering with Syrian President Bashar Assad in southern China.

The assembly at a Chinese state guesthouse kicked off a sequence of diplomatic conferences forward of Saturday night time’s opening of the Asian Games sports activities pageant within the town of Hangzhou.

“In the face of the unstable and uncertain international situation, China is willing to work with Syria to firmly support each other … and jointly safeguard international fairness and justice,” Xi mentioned in a video clip posted on-line via state broadcaster CCTV.

Assad’s discuss with parallels in some ways in which of Russian President Vladimir Putin last year for the hole rite of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Both leaders are digital pariahs within the West however welcomed via China as it tries to enlarge its international affect and advertise an alternative choice to the U.S.-led global order.

The Syrian chief will attend the Asian Games opening rite in conjunction with the king of Cambodia, the crown prince of Kuwait and the high ministers of Nepal, Timor-Leste and South Korea, China’s Foreign Ministry has mentioned. The pageant, happening within the town of Hangzhou, will have extra members than the Olympics.

Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni arrived Friday on the airport in Hangzhou. CCTV video posted on-line confirmed him strolling down the steps from his airplane to the tarmac for a crimson carpet welcome that integrated the Asian Games mascots.

Assad, who’s making a unprecedented go back and forth out of the country, is searching for tactics to emerge from the global isolation caused by a brutal struggle at house that presentations no signal of finishing after 12 years. He used to be anticipated to speak about financial the help of China, which might play a significant position in Syria’s future reconstruction.