The Islamist regime governing Syria sent its top diplomat to Beijing on Monday for meetings with Foreign Minister Wang Yi in which the Chinese Communist Party invited Syria to join its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a debt trap scheme for impoverished countries.

The visit represented a breakthrough in relations between the nascent regime in Damascus and China, which openly supported dictator Bashar Assad. The al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted Assad in December 2024; its leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is now the president of Syria.

Sharaa made a historic visit to the White House last week – the first Syrian president to ever do so – and cement support for sanctions relief and post-war reconstruction from President Donald Trump. Trump told reporters following the meeting that

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