Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to declare the delayed 2022 Asian Games open in Hangzhou on Saturday ©FISU

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the Opening Ceremony of the Asian Games here, it has been announced by the country's Foreign Ministry.

Hua Chunying, the spokesperson for the Ministry, has revealed that Xi will be present for the Ceremony which is due to be held at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium on Saturday (September 23).

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has also been announced as one of the foreign leaders that will be in attendance along with King Norodom Sihamoni of Cambodia, Crown Prince of Kuwait Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, Timor-Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão and Malaysia’s speaker of the Dewan Rakyat Johari bin Abdul.

It will be the third major Games that Xi has attended in the last two years.

He opened last year's Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, where his guests included Russian President Vladimir Putin shortly before he announced his invasion of Ukraine.

Then, in July he declared open the International University Sports Federation Summer World University Games in Chengdu.

Xi Jinping has regularly attending the Opening Ceremonies of major events in China, including last year's Winter Olympic Games in Beijing ©Getty Images
Xi Jinping has regularly attending the Opening Ceremonies of major events in China, including last year's Winter Olympic Games in Beijing ©Getty Images

As well as declaring the Games open, Xi is set to host a welcoming banquet and bilateral events for foreign leaders.

Al-Assad is due to arrive in China today in what will be his first official visit since 2004 which is being viewed as a critical moment in the relations between the two countries.

His visit has come at the official invitation of Xi and is expected to see him travel to Beijing and Guangzhou as part of the Chinese-Syrian summit.

The Middle East nation has been gripped by civil war since 2011 after protests calling for al-Assad to step down were violently suppressed.

Then Chinese President Yang Shangkun opened the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing, the first time the country had hosted the event ©OCA
Then Chinese President Yang Shangkun opened the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing, the first time the country had hosted the event ©OCA

It will be third time China has staged the Games after Beijing in 1990 and Guangzhou in 2010.

Xi’s predecessor Yang Shangkun declared Beijing 1990 open before then Premier of China Wen Jiabao did the honours at Guangzhou 2010.

Hangzhou was originally scheduled to stage the OCA’s flagship event in September last year only for it to be postponed by 12 months due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.

A record number of 12,500 athletes from 45 nations are set to compete at the Games that are due to conclude on October 8.