Ironically, the Uighur issue — long seen as a liability — may offer a modest avenue for cooperation. A policy of gradual demobilisation and localised integration, supported by Chinese reconstruction funding and Syrian oversight, could stabilise Syria and ease China’s anxieties. If managed prudently, Damascus might convert a domestic security challenge into diplomatic capital — restoring internal peace, accommodating China’s concerns, and tempering US–China rivalry in the Levant.
