Like many children growing up in 1970s Syria, Bashar al-Assad spent his childhood days the ancient streets of Damascus, a city once celebrated as “a paradise on earth” [1]. His father, Hafez al-Assad, was a military general who rose to power in 1971 through a bloodless coup known as the “Correction Movement”—a euphemistic term that masked the totalitarian power revolting against the short-lived United Arab Republic of Egypt and Syria, which only lasted for three years.
As a child, Bashar was sheltered from the political turmoil that many Syrians faced. While his brother, Bassel, was on track to become their father’s successor at a young age, Bashar pursued a quieter life that seemed to diverge from his family’s political dynasty. He focused on education and displayed little interest in politics, spending years studying and practicing ophthalmology in London. Some would later see his early disinterest in politics as a sign of incompetent leadership.
After ruling their country for over fifty years, the fall of Syria’s Assad regime has brought up heated discussions around the world. Most Western media outlets label the hereditary dictatorship as brutal and ruthless, particularly for using poisonous gas against its own civilians multiple times. The regime’s vulnerability became obvious during the 2011 Arab Spring, when peaceful protests calling for government reform escalated into armed conflict—not simply due to internal sectarian skirmishes, but also a series of proxy interests from powerful western countries. Right after the Syrian Civil War broke out, countries like the UK, France, and several Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, decided to either recognize or support the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, providing political, financial, and, in some cases, military support to bolster their efforts against the Assad regime.
Surprisingly, this same figure that has been condemned by the West has been praised and revered further east. In the Chinese media, Mr. Assad has been touted as a heroic, benevolent leader who led his country with dignity through extremist threats and foreign interference. China has close ties with Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime, showing sympathy for the country’s chaotic status, and has called for countries that maintain their military presence in Syrian territory illegally to withdraw as soon as possible and to stop their “unlawful” unilateral sanctions against the Assad regime.
China’s official stance towards Syria shapes public opinion of Assad in the country. During Assad’s 2023 visit to China for the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games, sympathetic commentators affirmed Assad’s persona of benevolence in stating that he had endured a lot for his country since the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011.
Some Chinese netizens also affectionately call Mr. Assad’s wife, Asma al-Assad, “the Desert Rose”, not only because her dedication and sacrifice in giving up her education and career in the West to join Mr. Assad in Syria, but also as a result of her continuous kind gestures toward China. Mrs. Assad has paid charity visits to ancient villages and enhanced cultural exchange between China and Syria. She also stands out on Chinese internet due to her outstanding fashion sense that adopt what the most would view as liberal and Western dressing style, which is not common for a Middle Eastern first lady. Whenever there is criticism of Mr. Assad’s family, indignant commentators rush to defend their reputation and argue imply that those who support the rebels are foreign agents who help spread western propaganda on the Chinese internet. They cite rebels inside Syria who are supported by oil-hungry western states and land-hunting neighbors without clear proof. Some worries are not unfounded, as the US Department of Defense has confirmed that an increasing number of US troops been deployed in Syria, while Israel plans to double the number of settlers in the Golan Heights buffer zone between Israel and Syria during this period of power vacuum.
The relatively positive perception of the Assad regime in China can be traced back to by a mix of empathy for a fellow victim of colonialism and contemporary geopolitical considerations. In the nineteenth century, China underwent its own humiliating period: internal and foreign forces sent its dynasties into turmoil, leading it to become hypersensitive to issues of sovereignty and stability nowadays. Syria, in addition to the majority of Sunni Muslims (70%), has some rather fragmented ethnicities and sects, such as Alawites (11%), Druze (3%), Greek Orthodox (4.5%), and Armenians (3.5% ), as well as a small number of Ismailis, Judaizers, Nestorians, etc.[1] The diverse ethnic and religious components fuel different thoughts on building a nation. Some call for more strict religious laws while others align to secular ones. However, Syria’s internal religious affairs are seldom addressed in China’s reports on the Syrian Civil War. Beijing has repeatedly called for coordinate international efforts to alleviate Syria’s humanitarian crisis while criticizing unilateral sanctions for undermining Syria’s economic recovery, constantly neglecting the internal components for war. Chinese commentators often argue that the collapse of Assad’s regime is a direct consequence of Western intervention, together with withering Russian support due to its seesaw in Ukraine instead of the result of complex domestic factors. The reduced support allowed opposing factions to successfully seize the control of the Syrian state. Little do they know or care to understand the cost of maintaining Assad’s regime.
Bashar Al-Assad is far from the only figure in recent political history to have vastly different reputations in Chinese and Western media. Many politicians have been reviewed based on different political, cultural, and ideological preferences. For instance, in China, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is highly regarded in China as a respectable initiator for getting US-China relations back on track. In Western media, however, he has come under public scrutiny for his role in covert operations and military interventions in Southeast Asia and Latin America that cost countless innocent lives. Critics within and beyond the regions affected by his policies view him as a deceitful warmonger who left a legacy of devastating humanitarian crises.
The dichotomy of perceptions of one figure is proof that, although some politicians can be controversial, geopolitical interests dictate how they are reported on and publicized. Media is a powerful tool for shaping soft power, wielding its influence on both domestic and international audiences. In a world where information is so often colored by politics, it falls upon critical thinkers to approach such reports with caution, questioning not just what is said, but why it is said that way.
- The phrase “إن كانت الجنة في الأرض فدمشق لا شك فيها، وإن كانت في السماء فهي تساميها وتحاذيها” is a well-known Arabic saying that translates to “If paradise is on earth, it is undoubtedly Damascus; and if it is in the heavens, Damascus rivals and matches it.”
[1] Modern Syrian State and Politics, Wang Xingang, 2016.
Edited By: Jay Figueredo