What Does China Want In Syria

Rear Admiral Guan Youfei (C), director of the newly created Foreign Affairs Office of China's National Defence Ministry, speaks during annual working-level talks with South Korea at the Defence Ministry in Seoul on January 15, 2016. The official visited Syria in mid-August, to the chagrin of Western political analysts. © AFP 2016/ JUNG YEON-JE 

Sputnik: The Two Things China Really Wants in Syria

Earlier this month, Chinese Admiral Guan Youfei visited Syria. Few details were made available on the specifics of Beijing's cooperation agreement with the Syrian military, but the pact itself represents a landmark shift both in the military sense and from the perspective of international geopolitics, says French political analyst Thierry Meyssan.

In an informative analysis published in the independent geopolitical analysis website Voltairenet.org, Meyssan explained that while details of the Chinese-Syrian military cooperation agreement remain murky, Beijing's motivations for increasing its involvement in the conflict are not.

Rear Admiral Guan's visit to the war-torn country, conducted in his capacity as director of the newly created Office for International Military Cooperation under the powerful Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party, took place as part of Beijing's broader efforts to establish military contacts with nations in the Middle East.

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Update: China ups military diplomacy game in Syria with Guan Youfei’s visit (Asia Times)

WNU Editor: If you can read French, Thierry Meyssan's is here. As to what is my take .... I have been saying the same thing for years .... China wants to be a major player on the global scene where its input and influence can be felt.... and these steps are just the beginning on what is essentially a multi-decade strategy to be one the world's super-powers.