Syria’s Bashar al-Assad visits China after nearly 2 decades

War-torn Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad arrived in China, reversing a 19-year drought of not visiting the Asian country in a time of diplomatic exclusion. In addition to holding bilateral talks with Xi Jinping, Assad will also attend the opening ceremony of the Asian Games.

Syria’s 12-year civil war, which killed over half a million, isolated the Middle Eastern country from mainstream diplomatic channels.

Syria’s worsening economic crisis has led to protests in government-held parts of the country. Syria blames the crisis on Western sanctions and US-backed Kurdish-led fighters who control the country’s largest oil fields in the east near the border with Iraq.

Assad’s last and only visit to China was in 2004, a year after the U.S.-led invasion of neighbouring Iraq and at a time when Washington was putting pressure on Syria.

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China has been expanding its reach in the Middle East after mediating a deal in March between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and it continues to support Assad in the Syrian conflict.