what an EXCELLENT question ( im acting like a teacher lol )
no vivi jan you are 100 % right it isnt the fact that they have less applications, think about it its china and india! lol half of the world!
there are a couple reasons, the relations of that country with canada, the equivalency of immigration flow(do canadians go to that country as much as they come to canada) and finally and most importantly POLITICAL RELATIONSHIP of the 2 countries......
I promise you even if syria had the same number of officers we would still be slower than the countries you mentioned ,
think about it, last year, was there an ARAB revolution?
syria has always been the fastest in the middle east since it has a 30 year relationship with canada but even the fastest processing time in syria which was 6.5 months in 2007 doesnt compare to 3 months in beijing..... why? well the answers are above haha