Assad’s Envoy Praises Chinese, Russian Stance on Syria

"We're happy to see countries like China and Russia who are not colonizers or deal with people as colonizers… This is a very different stance from the West,” said Bouthaina Shaaban, a political and media adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Shaaban, who is currently on an official visit to China, also said that the West is worsening the situation by "supporting with arms and money people who are inciting the civil war in Syria.”

The Syrian conflict has claimed between 14,000 and 20,000 lives since March 2011, according to estimates by various opposition groups and the UN. The West is pushing for Assad’s ouster, while Russia and China are trying to prevent outside interference in the country, claiming the Assad regime and the opposition are both to blame for the bloodshed.

Russia and China have previously vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions on Syria.