China concerned by reports of Uygur militants given senior roles in Syrian army

Country’s UN ambassador Fu Cong says new government in Damascus must prevent terrorist forces from threatening other countries

Reading Time:2 minutes

Syria’s new government is reportedly giving foreign fighters senior command roles in the army. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:00pm, 9 Jan 2025Updated: 6:11pm, 9 Jan 2025

China has expressed concern over reports that the Syrian army has given senior ranks to foreign fighters, including members of the Uygur separatist Turkestan Islamic Party.

On Wednesday, Fu Cong, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, told a Security Council briefing that the country’s new government must “fulfil its counterterrorism obligations and to prevent any terrorist forces from using Syrian territory to threaten the security of other countries”.

He said: “No matter how the domestic situation in Syria develops, the bottom line of zero tolerance for terrorism cannot be changed.”

Reuters reported last week that the new Syrian authorities have installed foreign fighters in the armed forces, including Abdulaziz Dawood Khudaberdi, the commander of the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) forces in Syria, who was appointed a brigadier-general.

Beijing has said the TIP, which was involved in the fight against Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, is the same as the Islamist East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which is listed as a terrorist group by the UN.

The East Turkestan Islamic Movement claimed responsibility for two attacks on government officials in Xinjiang in 2011, while Beijing blamed it for the 2013 car bomb attack in Tiananmen Square, in which five people were killed, and other attacks in Xinjiang.