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 a thick 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 and more than a dozen international dignitaries will attend the Asian Games opening ceremony before leading a trip to numerous Chinese cities for discussions, including a session with President Xi Jinping.

A Syrian delegation member claimed 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 effort to return to the world stage, which includes joining China’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2022 and rejoining the 22-nation Arab League in May.

“In his third term, Xi Jinping is seeking to openly challenge the U.S., so I don’t think it’s a surprise that he is willing to go against international norms and host Assad,” said Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy assistant professor Alfred Wu. “He doesn’t care that it will marginalize China globally.”

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 the U.N. Security Council, which includes China and Russia, did not endorse multilateral penalties.

China has vetoed eight U.N. resolutions criticizing Assad’s government and seeking to end the decades-old conflict that has engulfed neighbors and world powers.

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

The Arab League is pressuring Damascus to handle refugee and drug smuggling issues caused by Russian bombardment and Iran-backed militias, which have killed more than 200,000 civilians since the war began.

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.

Given the country’s dismal financial state and security concerns, many doubt Chinese enterprises would return to Syria.

“Syria has been trying to get investment from China for a long time, but the big question is whether any proposals discussed during this visit become actual projects,” said London’s RUSI think-tank researcher Samuel Ramani.

“China is frustrated with the West, and Syria is trying to build more relationships, but can that lead to something?”