Syrian FM Visit to Beijing: NO STRINGS ATTACHED *terms and conditions apply
Discourse Power | October 26, 2025
Greetings from Jerusalem,
After a long break, I’m pleased to share a quick read about the Syrian Foreign Minister’s upcoming visit to Beijing. You’re welcome to follow @GeringTuvia on X and Bluesky for more translations and comments.
Thank you for reading,
Tuvia
NO STRINGS ATTACHED *terms and conditions apply
Syria’s new regime turns to Beijing for reconstruction and legitimacy on China’s terms
by Tuvia Gering, October 25, 2025
The new Syrian government’s foreign minister, Assad al-Shaibani, is expected to visit Beijing for the first time in early November. Both sides have suggested this could be a chance for a hard reset in Sino-Syrian ties after the fall of the Assad regime Last December.
The trip comes as Syria’s new leadership grapples with international isolation and the urgent need to rebuild a war-torn country, with the World Bank estimating $216 billion in reconstruction costs.
The government, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa (aka al-Julani), a former leader of the Islamist terrorist organization Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), must seek foreign investment while cutting ties with the militant groups that propelled it to power.
In September 2025, al-Sharaa gave the first speech by a Syrian head of state in almost 60 years at the 80th UN General Assembly as part of his campaign for recognition, investment, and the lifting of sanctions.
In addition, al-Sharaa and other senior officials have been on a blitz of high-level diplomatic meetings with world leaders and delegations from the US, Europe, and beyond.
Their efforts have started to pay off. In August 2025, Syria announced a $14 billion investment package comprising a dozen major projects across infrastructure, transportation, and real estate.
Saudi Arabia pledged $6.4 billion in investments, while the UAE is leading large-scale infrastructure projects, including a $2 billion Damascus subway and an $800 million redevelopment of the port of Tartus.
The EU pledged nearly €2.5 billion for “rebuilding the country,” and Sweden allocated an additional $30 million through 2027 to help rebuild Syrian institutions. Italy and other Mediterranean nations have also pledged support as sanctions continue to ease.
But with billions now on the table, who will actually carry out the reconstruction?
“Syria’s choice to look East at this moment is a sagacious move,” noted Wang Yong, a professor at Peking University (PKU) School of International Studies and director of its Center for American Studies.
In a video published on his Weibo account on October 24, Wang elaborated, “After Julani came to power, he first made tentative contact with Europe and then hurried to Moscow to repair relations. But neither the West nor Russia truly opened the doors to capital and markets for Syria.”
Wang observed that the West remains wary of a government led by HTS, which it has long designated as a terrorist organization. Russia, meanwhile, finds itself in an awkward position as the former patron of the regime HTS deposed.
Foreign Minister Shaibani confirmed this, telling state-run Syrian media that agreements “concluded between Russia and the former regime remain suspended; we do not accept them.”
“China, on the other hand,” continued Wang, “has not only repeatedly called for the lifting of unilateral sanctions against Syria at the UN but has also maintained the intensity of its investment in Middle Eastern infrastructure under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).”
A reality check, also courtesy of Minister Shibani: China shielded the Assad regime at the UNSC, joining Russia in vetoing resolutions that would have condemned Assad’s use of chemical weapons, expanded humanitarian access, and referred Syria to the International Criminal Court.
Meanwhile, an invitation to join the BRI was extended to deposed President Assad during his summit with President Xi Jinping on September 21, 2023.
China, always the pragmatist, is ready to let bygones be bygones. “For Syria, [the Foreign Minister’s visit] is an excellent opportunity,” per Wang. “Rebuilding railways, repairing energy pipelines, restoring port transportation - these are all areas where Chinese companies excel.”
“However, cooperation is not unconditional,” continued Wang. “China has not embraced the visit with enthusiasm, but rather sent a signal of ‘cautious will to cooperate’ at the diplomatic level.”
The price of admission seems to have been a crackdown within HTS. “Before Shaibani’s arrival,” said Wang, “Syrian officials announced the arrest of several individuals suspected of belonging to the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) network. This move was seen as a direct response to China’s concerns.”
Founded in 1997 in Pakistan, TIP originated from Uyghur separatist movements seeking to establish an independent Islamic state of “East Turkestan” in Xinjiang. The group allied with al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other jihadist factions, fighting in Afghanistan before relocating to Syria during the civil war.
Recall when HTS and its allies swept into Damascus in December 2024, Uyghurs are believed to have formed a major share of its estimated 6,000 foreign fighters. Some of these Central Asian fighters were promoted to senior positions in the government and military, reported Reuters.
Chinese analysts immediately warned of the grave threat this posed to the PRC. They relied on widely circulated TIP videos featuring Uyghur militants vowing to “drive out Chinese infidels” and eventually carry their jihad to Xinjiang.
The November meeting’s agenda will thus revolve around these topics. As Wang Yong highlighted, “The Syrian Foreign Minister also publicly stated in a televised interview that the focus of this visit to China would be on the two major issues of economic cooperation and anti-terrorism collaboration, and said that China will play a key role in Syria’s reconstruction.”
Predictably, Professor Wang framed this as a showcase for Beijing’s foreign policy model: “China is not entering Syria through military intervention or by exporting its [political] system, but through win-win cooperation. This is the most fundamental difference from the Western model.”
And he concluded, “Al-Sharaa’s dispatch of envoys to China also signals a broader geopolitical shift: Middle Eastern nations are increasingly looking east for a partner without strings attached.”
Syria’s new leadership appears to have decided to pull that non-existent string, paving the way for what it hopes will be a landfall of Chinese investment in its rejuvenation.
Playing in the Background
I saw The Chameleons live during my respite, and they’re still going strong, with a new album out a few months ago.
Tuvia Gering is an analyst at Planet Nine’s Digital Intelligence Team, a visiting fellow at the Israel-China Policy Center at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), and a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the author’s affiliated organizations.