Скачать или смотреть TormaTechNews : China is hesitant to support Syria’s new government asal-Sharaafaces a crucial month

Nine months on since the fall of Bashar Al Assad in Syria, China is yet to formally recognize the country’s new government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Beijing, a ‘strategic partner’ of the former regime, is particularly concerned about the prominence of Uighur foreign fighters within Syria’s security and defence structures.

While Beijing has engaged with the new Syrian government via its ambassador, its concerns mean it will likely continue to act with restraint and may be hesitant to support any moves to lift the remaining UN sanctions on al-Sharaa and other officials.

In turn, al-Sharaa is unlikely to clamp down on foreign fighters that make up an important part of his support base amid ongoing instability and conflict with other groups.

This deadlock comes during a crucial month for al-Sharaa, with elections scheduled for mid-September before the new Syrian leader is set to address the UN General Assembly for the first time. In the long-term, it could also undermine Damascus’s hedging policy, aimed at avoiding over-reliance on the US.

Foreign fighters in Syria
Beijing’s approach to the new regime is motivated primarily by security concerns, not commercial interests.

Beijing is concerned about the new government’s appointment of Uighur fighters from the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) in its security and defence forces.

3,500
is the estimated number of foreign fighters, mostly Uighurs, that have been reportedly integrated into the Syrian army’s 84th division.

The TIP is a militant Islamist group that fought alongside al-Sharaa’s former group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), against the Assad regime during the country’s 13-year civil war. It is made up primarily of ethnic Uighurs from China’s Xinjiang province.

An estimated 3,500 fighters – mostly Uighurs from the TIP – have reportedly been integrated into a newly formed unit within the Syrian army, the 84th Division. The TIP’s leader in Syria, Abdulaziz Dawood Khudaberdi (known as Zahid), was made a brigadier general in the army.

In January and April, and again in August, China’s UN envoy Fu Cong publicly warned the Security Council that ‘foreign terrorist fighters’ remain active in Syria and urged Damascus to fulfil ‘counter-terrorism obligations,’ calling out the TIP directly.

Fu also explicitly linked foreign fighters to the violence in Syria’s western coastal region in March and in Sweida in July.

Beijing’s perception of threat
China’s concerns about the presence of foreign fighters reflect a pessimistic outlook on Syria’s future. Beijing fears a scenario in which Uighur fighters turn their attention towards China or Chinese interests.

These fears draw upon the TIP’s own words. A video released by the organization after the fall of Assad’s regime in December 2024 asserted that their primary mission is to ‘liberate the Muslims of East Turkistan from the Chinese occupation’, in a reference to Xinjiang. Previous UN reports have alleged ‘serious human rights violations’ against the Uighur population in Xinjiang, reports which Beijing categorically rejects.

Beijing’s approach to the new regime is motivated primarily by security concerns, not commercial interests.

Another scenario could involve Chinese commercial interests in the Middle East being targeted, echoing attacks on Chinese companies and citizens in Pakistan.

Potential targets could include Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) investments and energy supplies from Iraq. These are particularly important, as Beijing imports around 35 per cent of Iraq’s total oil output, and Chinese energy firms hold the largest share of foreign investments in Iraq’s oil and gas sectors.