Syrian leader Sharaa meets Chinese envoy in first bilateral exchange since fall of Assad

Name: World leaders react to the end of the Assad regime in Syria
Uploaded: 2025-02-22T07:37:34.000Z
Duration: 4 min 16 s
Description: World leaders react to the end of the Assad regime in Syria

Meeting seen as major diplomatic development since armed rebels led by Sharaa’s HTS ousted Beijing-friendly Assad, despite terror concerns

Reading Time:3 minutes

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Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa meets Chinese ambassador Shi Hongwei at the official presidential residence in Damascus. Photo: SANA

Laura Zhou

Published: 3:37pm, 22 Feb 2025Updated: 10:00pm, 22 Feb 2025

Syria’s interim president met the Chinese ambassador to Damascus on Friday, in the first public bilateral engagement after Beijing-friendly Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in December.

Observers described President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s meeting with ambassador Shi Hongwei as a significant diplomatic development for the two countries despite concerns over terrorism.

The official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Friday about the meeting but offered no details.

Syria’s new foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, was also at the meeting with Shi and “his accompanying delegation”, SANA said.

China has been carefully assessing its policy towards Syria since armed rebels led by Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took over Damascus and forced long-time ruler Assad to flee the country.

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World leaders react to the end of the Assad regime in Syria

China has long worried about the impact of Syria’s extreme Islamist movement, especially in its western Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, with its history of ethnic tensions and separatist movements. Uygurs are a mainly Muslim ethnic minority that the West says has been persecuted by Beijing, which rejects the charge.