Chinese jihadis’ rise in Syria raises concerns at home

BEIRUT: Many do not speak Arabic and their role in Syria is little known to the outside world, but the Chinese fighters of the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) in Syria are organized, battled-hardened and have been instrumental in ground offensives against Bashar Assad’s forces in the country’s northern regions.

Thousands of Chinese fighters have come to Syria since the country’s civil war began in March 2011 to fight against government forces and their allies. Some have joined the Al-Qaeda’s branch in the country previously known as Nusra Front. Others paid allegiance to Daesh and a smaller number joined factions such as Ahrar Al-Sham.

But the majority of Chinese fighters are with the TIP in Syria, whose vast majority are Chinese Muslims, particularly those from the Turkicspeaking Uighur majority native to Xinjiang in China.

Their growing role in Syria has resulted in increased cooperation between Syrian and Chinese intelligence agencies.

The TIP is the other name for the East Turkistan Islamic Movement that considers China’s Xinjiang to be East Turkistan.

Like most militant groups in Syria, their aim is to remove Assad from power. Their participation in the war, which has left nearly 400,000 people dead, comes at a time when the Chinese government is one of Assad’s strongest international backers. Along with Russia, China has used its veto power at the UN Security Council on several occasions to prevent the imposition of international sanctions against its Arab ally.

Beijing has blamed violence back at home and against Chinese targets around the world on militants with foreign connections seeking an independent state in Xinjiang.

The government says some of these militants are fleeing the country to join the war, although critics say the Uighurs are discriminated against and economically marginalized in their homeland and are merely seeking to escape repressive rule by the majority Han Chinese.

Xie Xiaoyuan, China’s envoy to Syria, told reporters in November that the two countries have had normal military exchanges focused on humanitarian issues, although Chinese officials have repeatedly rejected the possibility of sending troops or weapons.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said there are about 5,000 Chinese fighters in Syria, most of them with the TIP fighters in northern Syria who along with their families make about 20,000.