China said it was deeply concerned by the new Syrian government's appointments of foreign terrorist fighters, including those from the banned Uygur militant group 'the East Turkestan Islamic Movement', to high-ranking military positions.
The East Turkestan Islamic Movement is active in China's volatile Xinjiang province.
These remarks were made by Fu Cong, the permanent representative of China to the UN, on Wednesday at the UN Security Council Briefing on Syria.
According to him, reports showed that Syrian forces recently appointed certain foreign terrorist fighters to key ranks in its senior military chain; among the terrorists is reportedly named on the S-T list.
For a listed organisation: the Council of the head - Turkistan Islamic Party -Cong mentioned, China feels pretty concerned.
He called on Syria to fulfill its obligations under the counter-terrorism agreement and prevent any terrorist forces from using Syrian territory to threaten the security of other countries, according to official media reports here.
Reports from Syria said that the new Syrian regime led by de-facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa appointed 50 new military officials, among whom were six foreign fighters, including ETIM.
The Army is being re-organised by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that is now effectively in charge of the country following the overthrow of former President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.
According to the names that have been published, they are said to include Chinese Uyghurs, a Jordanian and a Turkish national. All are said to have been given high-ranking positions as colonels or brigadier-generals, BBC reported.
China has supported the Assad regime and was caught unawares by its sudden fall. Assad himself fled to Russia where he was granted asylum.
Thousands of fighters from many other countries joined the uprising against Assad as it became an all-out armed conflict when mass protests were met with violence by the security forces.
The new appointments seem to be in order to compensate those fighters-whether from Syria or elsewhere – who played a very crucial role in the final victory against the regime.
The problem is one of several that might scuttle any smooth transition into a new political and social structure in Syria, the BBC report noted.
For China, ETIM is a red rag as it accuses the Uygur militant group of being responsible for a number of militant strikes in different cities in China and Xinjiang where the majority were restive over the large-scale settlements of ethnic Hans from other provinces.
For more than a decade China has sent thousands of security forces to keep militancy in check.
China is also concerned about the presence of ETIM militants in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime as Xinjiang bordered that country.
Fu said the situation in Syria is at a critical stage with daunting challenges.
The international community should strengthen solidarity and coordinate its actions to support and help Syria achieve stability and development.
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