On February 7, 2012, Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun met with the delegation led by Haitham Manna, vice chief coordinator and spokesperson abroad of Syrian National Coordination Committee for the Forces of Democratic Change who visited China at the invitation of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs. The two sides exchanged views on the current Syrian situation.

On the same day, officials of the Department of West Asian and North African Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry held talks with Haitham Manna.