September 22, 2023 is a historic day for Chinese-Syrian relations, as President Xi Jinping and President Bashar al-Assad held a friendly meeting in the city of Khanzhou, and jointly announced the establishment of strategic partnership, said the Ambassador of China to Syria, Shi Hongwei, in a newspaper article on Friday.
This partnership would contribute to strategic planning at the highest level for exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in various fields, in addition to strengthening the traditional Chinese-Syrian friendship in an unprecedented way, he added.
China and Syria are two ancient civilized countries, and the exchange between the peoples of the two countries goes back to ancient times, as the ancient Silk Road connects them closely. 67 years ago, Syria was one of the first Arab countries to establish diplomatic relations with China, and opened a new page for Chinese-Syrian friendship. Despite the major changes in international and regional situations, China and Syria continued to exchange support, which made their extraordinary friendship a model for friendly relations between countries with different civilizations , Hongwei went on to say.
He added “China and Syria are still working to strengthen their friendship, and the two countries have loyalty and sincerity. In recent years, the two presidents have maintained close communication, established a deep personal friendship, and pushed the relations to move forward, and the Chinese side firmly supports the Syrian efforts to preserve the country’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and supports the Syrian people to move on the path of development.
The ambassador pointed out that his country rejects the illegal military presence of foreign powers in Syria, the carrying out of illegal military operations there, and the plundering of its natural resources. It also calls on the concerned countries to immediately lift all unilateral and illegitimate sanctions on Syria.
The Syrian side continues to stand with the Chinese on issues related to Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong and the South China Sea, and participates positively in the Global Security Initiative, the Global Development Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative,the ambassador refered.
“The two countries seek development through cooperation and mutual benefit, and China is the second largest source of commercial imports in Syria, and despite the serious impact resulting from the unilateral and illegal sanctions on Syria imposed by the US and Western countries, economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has achieved fruitful results in recent years.”
Since the beginning of the crisis in Syria, China immediately extended a helping hand to it, providing a large amount of aid, including food supplies, buses, vaccines, medical equipment and trained a large number of Syrian cadres in various fields, and after the devastating earthquake that struck the country in last February, the Chinese side provided the stricken areas, from the first moment, with clothes, tents, medicines, food, prefabricated housing units, and other urgent rescue materials, the ambassador said.
Hongwei noted “The two sides appreciate each other in a way that enhances their communication which has never ceased at the popular and cultural levels, and they have taken advantage of their possessing ancient civilizations, to show the beauty of their civilization in a way that deepens the cultural and civilizational exchange and pushes it to continue.
The ambassador pointed out that China has also been working positively to enhance exchanges and bilateral cooperation in the field of education, as every year a large number of Syrian students go to China to study for bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Hongwei concluded his article by saying: I am confident that under the joint strategic guidance of President Xi and President al-Assad, the deep friendship will continue to write a new chapter in the new historical period, and bilateral relations will continually rise to new levels, thus contributing more to enhancing security and stability.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency