On Sunday, President Bashar al-Assad received the Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chen Xiaodong, and the accompanying delegation.
During the meeting, the two sides affirmed the deep-rooted historical relations between Syria and China, and the need to bolster coordination and cooperation between the two countries on political, military, economic, cultural, and technological levels.
President Assad said the war on Syria has started to take a new form, based on sieges and economic war, pointing out that the tools of international politics have changed, and that differences which were previously resolved through dialogue, are now being addressed in a different method based on boycotts, withdrawal of ambassadors, economic sieges, and the use of terrorism.
He stressed that the war on terrorism in Syria is a part of a broad war on the international arena, and that terrorism cannot be confined in a specific geographical area, adding that distances, no matter how long, do not stand in the way of the spread of extremist ideology.
He affirmed that combating terrorism is not only carried out via military action; but that what is more important is to combat it intellectually and ideologically.
For his part, Chen said that China has a strategic long-term view regarding relations with Syria, stressing that thanks to the steadfastness of the Syrian leadership and people, the situation on the ground has started to improve.
Chen voiced his country’s readiness to keep standing by Syria and provide it with all forms of support.
President Assad stressed that combating terrorism will lead to a political solution in the end, and that any talk of political solutions while terrorism spreads is an illusion and a deception.
In the same context, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Walid al-Muallem, met the Chinese Assistant Minister and the accompanying delegation .
Muallem said that Syria welcomes China’s participation in the process of rebuilding in Syria, asserting that Syria is committed to providing facilitations to Chinese companies in this regard.
Muallem hailed the political support and the humanitarian aid that China has been providing to Syria to this day, and all they contributed to strengthen the steadfastness of the Syrian people over the past years.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
