A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and First Lady Asma al-Assad being welcomed upon their arrival at the airport in Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province, on September 21, 2023. Photo: VCG

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad officially kicked off his first official trip to China in almost two decades on Thursday. Chinese observers believe that his visit will push bilateral relations to a new level and a string of practical cooperation projects are likely to be initiated.

Assad received a warm welcome when his flight arrived at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport in East China's Zhejiang Province on Thursday. He is due to attend the opening ceremony of the Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Since the establishment of China-Syria diplomatic ties 67 years ago, China-Syria relations have maintained sound and steady growth. We believe that President Bashar al-Assad's visit will further deepen the mutual political trust and cooperation in various fields between the two countries and take bilateral relations to new heights, Mao Ning, a spokesperson from Chinese Foreign Ministry, said on Thursday. 

President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders will meet with President Bashar al-Assad and they will have an in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest, according to Mao. 

China and Syria enjoy a profound friendship. Syria is one of the first Arab countries to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China and one of the co-sponsors of the UN General Assembly resolution that restored China's lawful seat in the UN, Mao said. 

The last time Assad visited China was in 2004. It is the first time the Syrian president has visited China since the start of the Syrian crisis more than 12 years ago. 

The visit to China demonstrates Syria's efforts to return to the international community and seek an exit from its diplomatic isolation, He Wenping, a senior research fellow from the African Studies Section under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Amid the accelerated trend of reconciliation in the Middle East, Syria was reinstated to the Arab League after it was suspended from the body 12 years ago. "China undoubtedly will play a very important part as Syria seeks a new balanced and comprehensive diplomacy in this new historical era," Yin Gang, a research fellow at the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. 

The visit came six months after a China-brokered deal saw longtime regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran agree to restore diplomatic relations. China now becomes one of a handful of countries outside the Middle East that Assad has visited since 2011, media reported.

Wang Jin, an associate professor at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies of Northwest University, believes Assad is looking to agree on a number of practical cooperation projects with China, since the Syrian government has now shifted its focus on reconstruction and how to better bring about internal development, which can be seen from the delegation members accompanying Assad on his visit. 

According to Syrian Arab News Agency, Assad is leading a high-level official delegation that includes Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Fayssal Mikdad, Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade, Mohammad Samer al-Khalil, Presidential Affairs Minister, Mansour Azzam and Special Adviser at the Presidency of the Republic, Buthaina Shaaban.

Wang said that China is likely to play an important part in Syria's reconstruction projects, and the potential for China-Syria cooperation is huge. "China and Syria share great complementarity in trade, with Syria prioritizing China's agricultural facilities and techniques and China needing Syria's agricultural products." 

In January 2022, Syria also joined China's Belt and Road initiative. Chinese observers believe the two sides are likely to bring up and initiate a number of workable projects.