Lots of Smiles and Lots of Handshakes, But What Else Did Syria’s President Get During His Recent Visit to China?

Syrian President Bahsar al-Assad returned to China for the first in almost twenty years last month in a bid to secure President Xi Jinping's support for reconstruction aid. Image via Xinhua.

President Bashar al-Assad’s visit to China in late September is widely seen as an important step in Syria’s re-integration into the international community after years of Western-led international isolation.

Assad received a much warmer welcome in China than he would pretty much anywhere else in the world. He got the same treatment that any visiting head of state receives in Beijing, including an honor guard review on Tiananmen Square and a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

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by Eric Olander

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