China has “lots to learn” if it hopes to transition from a bystander to a credible mediator in the Middle East, according to analysts, who noted that Beijing faced major challenges in engaging Syria’s new government.
They made the comments during a virtual panel on Monday held by US-based think tank the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
While meeting the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations Fu Cong in New York on Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said the two countries would “work together to build a long-term strategic partnership in the near future”, according to Damascus.
But China, a key backer of ousted Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, now faced a “reputational crisis”, particularly among local authorities in Syria, said Jesse Marks, a non-resident fellow with the Stimson Centre’s China programme who specialises in China-Middle East relations.
He said China faced a deeply uncomfortable dilemma in Syria, where it would have to deal with a new government dominated by UN-identified “terrorists”.
Assad, whose family had ruled over Syria for more than half a century, was overthrown in December following years of civil war. Members of the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) now hold pivotal cabinet positions in Syria’s new government, with Ahmed al-Sharaa as interim president.
