Since toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad nearly a year ago, Syria's new Islamist authorities have sought to break with their jihadist past and rebuild the country's diplomatic presence after years of international isolation.

Jihadists from China's Uyghur Muslim minority went to Syria after war erupted in 2011 to fight Assad, many joining the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), a Uyghur-dominated jihadist group that was based in Idlib province.

The issue of the Uyghur fighters was expected to be on Shaibani's agenda in Beijing, a Syrian government source told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that "based on China's request, Damascus intends to hand over the fighters in batches."

China refused the fighters' integration into the new Syrian army, the source added.

A diplomatic source in Syria, also requesting anonymity, told AFP that "Syria intends to hand over 400 Uyghur fighters to China in the coming period."

China's top diplomat Wang Yi pledged support for Damascus on Monday in "achieving peace at an early date", as Shaibani visited.

China's foreign ministry said in a statement that "the Syrian side has pledged not to allow any entity to use Syrian territory to harm China's interests."

"China expressed its appreciation and hopes that Syria will take effective measures to implement this commitment, thereby removing security obstacles to the stable development of China-Syria relations," the statement added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said that between 3,200 and 4,000 Uyghur fighters were still in Syria and were integrated into the new Syrian army as a division.

Earlier this month, China abstained from a United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution to lift sanctions on Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

China "expressed legitimate concerns about counterterrorism issues -- in particular (foreign terrorist fighters) in Syria", said China's UN ambassador Fu Cong at the time.

After taking power, Syria's new authorities declared that all armed groups were disbanded.

In December, Sharaa tapped former rebels for high-ranking army positions including a Uyghur who was a member of the TIP, the Observatory had said.