Beijing is a longstanding backer of the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, which has engaged in a bloody war that has left more than 290,000 people dead and displaced millions since it began in 2011.

Last week senior Chinese military official Guan Youfei met with Syria’s defense minister in Damascus and said he wanted closer military ties with the Syrian government, state media reported.

“The Chinese military will provide the Syrian side with medical and nursing professional training,” defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian told reporters at a monthly briefing.

The training would take place in China, he added, and was intended “to ease the humanitarian crisis in Syria.”

The Chinese military has already provided Syrian authorities with medical equipment and medicines “to help reduce the humanitarian suffering of the Syrian people,” Wu said.

“For a long period of time, China and Syria have helped each other. And China has been pushing for a political solution of the Syrian conflict and we have always supported the independence of Syria,” he added.

As well as supporting Assad’s government, Beijing is close to Moscow, which has carried out strikes on terrorist-held areas of Aleppo, as have Assad’s forces.

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