Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday, September 21, arrived in China at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
This is his first visit to China since the beginning of the civil war in Syria in 2011. Assad last visited China in 2004 to meet then-President Hu Jintao.
He is accompanied by his wife, Asma al-Assad and an official delegation that includes a number of regime ministers, including Faisal Al-Miqdad, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, and Mohammad Samer Al-Khalil, Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade.
Presidents Assad and Xi are gearing up to hold a Syrian-Chinese summit.
His visit also includes a number of meetings and events to be held in the cities of Hangzhou and Beijing.
Assad is expected to attend the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou on Saturday, September 23.
The visit comes at a time when he is struggling to get support for the reconstruction of his war-torn country.
The country’s civil war, which began in 2011, has killed more than half a million people, displaced millions more and crippled Syria’s infrastructure and industry.
