Reuters-Syrias Assad in China seeks exit from diplomatic isolation
September 21, 2023 3 min 474 words
这篇报道揭示了叙利亚总统巴沙尔·阿萨德访问中国以寻求结束长达十多年的外交孤立的最新举措。这次访问标志着他自2004年以来首次访问中国，表明他正在积极采取行动，试图摆脱西方制裁所带来的外交困境。阿萨德的到来备受关注，特别是他鲜少离开国内的情况下，他乘坐中国国际航空的飞机抵达，而中国官方媒体将浓雾形容为给这次访问增添了神秘感。这位叙利亚领导人计划在亚洲运动会的开幕式上亮相，并与多名外国政要一同参加，随后将在中国多个城市举行一系列会议，包括与中国国家主席习近平的峰会。 在地区会议上与中国国家主席一同露面，将进一步增加叙利亚重新回到国际舞台的合法性，这一进程已经包括叙利亚加入了中国的“一带一路”倡议和于去年5月重新获得22个阿拉伯联盟国家的会员资格。值得注意的是，此前，阿萨德于2004年首次访问中国，这也是自两国于1956年建立外交关系以来，叙利亚国家元首首次访问中国。 与叙利亚的主要盟友俄罗斯和伊朗一样，中国一直保持着与阿萨德的外交关系，尽管其他国家因其镇压2011年爆发的反政府示威而孤立了他。阿萨德面临着美国、欧洲、澳大利亚、加拿大和瑞士等国家实施的制裁，但在联合国安全理事会，中国和俄罗斯的反对使得多边制裁未能获得一致支持。中国曾多次否决了联合国谴责阿萨德政府并旨在结束这场已经吸引邻国和世界大国参与的十年多边冲突的决议。与此不同的是，中国并未直接支持叙利亚政权努力恢复国家控制的努力。 联合国委托的调查人员表示，自战争爆发以来，由俄罗斯轰炸和伊朗支持的民兵负责大部分200,000多名平民死亡，这一情况引发了难民和毒品走私危机，阿拉伯联盟正在敦促大马士革解决这些问题。叙利亚对中国具有战略重要性，因为它位于中国从伊拉克进口大约10%石油的路径上，同时也位于亚洲通往欧洲的经济走廊的末端，并且常常在该地区的争端中充当调解角色。 这篇报道揭示了阿萨德政权在国际政治舞台上寻求重要支持的努力，特别是来自中国这样的全球大国。这次访问将进一步影响叙利亚的外交动态，尤其是在中国的支持下，阿萨德政府试图在国际舞台上重新崭露头角。然而，国际社会对阿萨德政权的行为持有不同的立场，尤其是在叙利亚内战期间发生的数百万人的人权侵犯和人道主义危机方面，存在着许多争议和争论。这一访问将进一步引发国际社会对叙利亚政治和外交问题的关注和辩论。
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has arrived in the east Chinese city of Hangzhou, kicking off his first visit to the Asian nation since 2004 as he makes further strides to end more than a decade of diplomatic isolation amid Western sanctions.
Assad arrived aboard an Air China plane amid heavy fog, which Chinese state media said "added to the atmosphere of mystery" in a nod to the fact the Syrian leader has seldom been seen outside his country since the start of a civil war that has claimed over half a million lives.
He is due to attend the opening ceremony of the Asian Games along with more than a dozen foreign dignitaries, before leading a delegation for a series of meetings in several Chinese cities, including a summit with President Xi Jinping.
Being seen alongside China's president at a regional gathering should add further legitimacy to Syria's campaign to slowly return to the world stage, which has seen the country join China's Belt and Road Initiative in 2022 and be readmitted to the 22-nation strong Arab League in May.
Assad last visited China in 2004 to meet then-President Hu Jintao. It was the first visit by a Syrian head of state to China since the countries established diplomatic ties in 1956.
China - like Syria's main allies Russia and Iran - maintained those ties even as other countries isolated Assad over his brutal crackdown of anti-government demonstrations that erupted in 2011.
Assad faces sanctions imposed by the United States, Europe, Australia, Canada and Switzerland, but efforts to apply multilateral sanctions against his regime having failed to garner unanimous support at the United Nations Security Council, which China and Russia are members of.
China has on at least eight occasions vetoed U.N. motions condemning Assad's government and aimed at bringing the decade-old multisided conflict that has sucked in neighbours and world powers to an end. Unlike Iran and Russia, China has not directly supported the regime's efforts to regain control of the country.
U.N.-commissioned investigators have said Russian bombing and Iran-backed militias are responsible for the bulk of the more than 200,000 civilian deaths recorded since the war began, which has triggered refugee and drug smuggling crises that the Arab League is pushing Damascus to resolve.
Syria has strategic importance for China given it sits between Iraq, where around 10% of China's oil comes from, Turkey, which marks the end of economic corridors stretching across Asia into Europe, and Jordan, which often mediates disputes in the region.