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Embassy of Syria in China

Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest. A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, it is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shias and Arab Sunnis. The latter make up the majority of the muslim population. Read More

Embassy

Address:	No. 6, Dong Si Jie, San Li Tun
Postal Code:	100600
Tel: ( ? )	(+86) 10 6532 1356
Fax:	(+86) 10 6532 1575
Email:	sy@syria.org.cn

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( + ) Departments of Embassy

Section	Telephone	E-mail
Visa and Consular	(+86) 10 6532 1372 # 810	sy@syria.org.cn
Commercial	(+86) 10 6532 1429 (+86) 10 6532 1372 # 811	economy@syria.org.cn
Tourism and Media Sections	(+86) 10 6532 1372 # 805	tourism@syria.org.cn media@syria.org.cn
Cultural and Education	(+86) 10 6532 1429 (+86) 10 6532 1372 # 811	student@syria.org.cn

Syria China Relations

China–Syria relations are foreign relations between China and Syria. Diplomatic relations between both countries were established on August 1, 1956. China has an embassy in Damascus and Syria has an embassy in Beijing .

Economic relations

China and Syria have significant trade relations. In 2009, mutual trade between the two countries was worth nearly $2.2 billion according to figures from the International Monetary Fund, and similar trade volumes were expected by the Syrian Ministry of Economy for 2010. The trade, however, is almost entirely one way. Exports from Syria to China made up less than 1 percent of the total trade volume at $5.6 million, while exports from China to Syria were worth $2.2 billion making China Syria's main importer. China is actively involved in Syria's oil industry.

China National Petroleum Corporation is a joint venture partner with Syria's national oil company and Royal Dutch Shell in the Al-Furat Petroleum Company, the main oil producing consortium in the country. The Al-Furat consortium produces some 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). Sinochem is another Chinese oil company that has been very active in recent oil exploration tenders. China's CNPC and Sinopec are helping to revive output under rehabilitation contracts for small mature oil fields in Syria. China has also helped Syria build some construction projects such as a textile mill and stadium. China currently has contracted to build a hydraulic power station and a rubber tyre factory.

Military relations

In 1969, then chief of staff Mustafa Tlass led a military mission to Beijing , and secured weapons deals with the Chinese government. In a move calculated to deliberately antagonize the Soviet Union to stay out of the succession dispute then going on in Syria, Mustafa Tlass allowed himself to be photographed waving Mao Zedong's Little Red Book, just two months after bloody clashes between Chinese and Soviet armies on the Ussuri river. The Soviet Union then agreed to back down and sell Syria weapons.

In 1993 and 1996, China was reported to be assisting Syrian ballistic missile programs.

On October 19, 1999, Defence Minister of China, General Chi Haotian, after meeting with Syrian Defence Minister Mustafa Tlass in Damascus, Syria, to discuss expanding military ties between Syria and China, then flew directly to Israel and met with Ehud Barak, the then Prime Minister and Defence Minister of Israel where they discussed military relations. Among the military arrangements was a 1 billion dollar Israeli Russian sale of military aircraft to China, which were to be jointly produced by Russia and Israel.