Beijing was a firm supporter of the Assad regime during Syria's civil war, on numerous occasions blocking U.N. Security Council resolutions on the conflict. Assad's fall is seen as a major blow to China's regional influence. TaiwanPlus speaks to Jean-Loup Samaan from National University of Singapore on how China is reacting to the rebels' takeover in Damascus.
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00:00China has long been a backer of the Assad regime in Syria.
00:04How is Beijing reacting to its fall?
00:06Well, so far the reaction of China to the fall of the regime has been quiet.
00:12And I think it is, as you said, putting the diplomacy of China in a difficult spot because
00:20China had vetoed several resolutions in the past at the level of the UN Security Council
00:27when it came to interventions against the Assad regime.
00:32But beyond that, I don't think that we should compare the fallout of the Assad regime on
00:41China the same way we would do for Russia, which has been by all means the biggest external
00:49player.
00:50How can we expect China to position itself with the new regime in Syria?
00:55The best speculation so far is that given the priorities inside Syria, this will be
01:03a government looking domestically rather than externally.
01:07So they may prioritize external partners depending on what they can get from them in terms of
01:14foreign investment, foreign grants, foreign aid.
01:16Well, I think at this stage China is like many countries and I would say most of the
01:23UN Security Council members trying to see what comes out of the rubbles and the HTS
01:33takeover of the government in Damascus.
01:37We don't know much after a few days of this transition how this new government will look like.
01:45What does this all mean for China's Middle East policy?
01:49The other element to consider is that Syria or the collapse of the Assad regime maybe
01:56adds another element to the perception across the region that China doesn't have much leeway
02:03or much influence on the regional crisis.
02:08This was already obvious for Russia and to a certain extent to the U.S. that those external
02:15powers do not have much influence, much agency in the end on what happens.