Syria’s new president meets Chinese envoy for first time since Assad’s fall

DAMASCUS - Syria's new President Ahmed al-Sharaa met China's ambassador to Damascus in the first public engagement between the two countries since the overthrow of Mr Bashar al-Assad in December, Syrian state media said on Feb 21.

China, which backed Mr Assad, saw its embassy in Damascus looted after his fall, and Syria's new Islamist rulers have installed some foreign fighters including Uighurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority in China that Western rights groups say has been persecuted by Beijing, into the Syrian armed forces.

Beijing has denied accusations of abuses against Uighurs.

Syria's state news agency Sana reported Mr Sharaa's meeting with Ambassador Shi Hongwei but gave no details of what was discussed.

The decision to give official roles, some at senior level, to several Islamist militants could alarm foreign governments and Syrian citizens fearful of the new administration's intentions, despite its pledges not to export Islamic revolution and to rule with tolerance for Syria's large minority groups.

In 2015, Chinese authorities said many Uighurs who had fled to Turkey via South-east Asia planned to bring Islamic war back to China, saying some were involved in "terrorism activities".

Chinese President Xi Jinping had vowed to support Mr Assad against external interference. He offered the veteran Syrian leader a rare break from years of international isolation since the start of Syria's civil war in 2011 when he accorded him and his wife a warm welcome during a visit to China in 2023.

Mr Assad was toppled

a year later in a swift offensive by a coalition of rebels led by the Sharaa-led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former Al-Qaeda affiliate, that ended 54 years of Assad family rule. REUTERS