Ben Carson is defending an odd claim about China and Syria he made during the last GOP debate
Carson's comment was in response to a question about President Barack Obama's decision to send 50 members of special-operations forces to Syria and to keep 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan past the end of his presidency.
The retired neurosurgeon said that having US special-ops forces in Syria is better than not having them there, and then noted that Syria is a "very complex place."
"You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there," Carson said.
Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group and author of the book "Superpower," said that while there has been unsubstantiated speculation recently about China and Syria, Chinese presence there has not been confirmed.
"There was some speculation last month - but from organizations like Debka, which tends to be breathless and exaggerated/wrong," Bremmer told Business Insider via email, referring to the Israeli military-intelligence website. "The Chinese government has made clear that they don't have any forces there and they aren't planning to send any."
Bremmer continued: "This is very far from China's fight. They don't want responsibility for it, there's no potential diplomatic or security win for Beijing."
During a press conference on Wednesday in Lynchburg, Virginia, Carson attempted to clarify his statement.
"China has been trying to extend its influence not only throughout the Middle East but throughout Africa and in several [other] locations," he said. "And their interests extend into that region as well. I would have to refer you to some other people to get you to the actual data. But they've shown it to me."
Armstrong Williams, a top Carson adviser, also defended Carson's remarks on Wednesday. He said Carson's information on Chinese involvement in Syria is unconfirmed, but that he had heard it from multiple intelligence sources.
"During Dr. Carson's conversations with military operatives and people in Iraq, in that part of the world, [they] discussed with him multiple reports that Chinese military advisers are on the ground in Syria operating with Russia special-operations personnel," Williams told Business Insider.
Williams said that Carson had also heard reports about "new Russian and Chinese munitions, ammunition, and weapons" that are reportedly showing up in both Syria and Iraq.
"We have many intelligence groups that speak to Dr. Carson and this is something that's very consistent in what they've been saying in the intelligence community," Williams said.
When The Washington Post questioned Carson's China comment, his campaign sent over "links to blog posts from September 2015 speculating China was in Syria and a 2012 article about possible Chinese participation in war games with Russia and Syria, which noted the reports were unconfirmed."
Some experts don't seem very confident in Carson's expertise. Bremmer quipped at Carson's lack of experience in the foreign-policy realm, saying: "I'm not overly worried about Carson displaying expertise on foreign policy, in the same way I'm not worried about anybody asking me to separate conjoined twins."
Carson is right in that Syria is a complex country. But China doesn't seem to factor into the equation much.
The New York Times published a helpful guide in September outlining who is fighting whom in the country that has been torn apart by a civil war for the past four-plus years.
President Bashar al-Assad - who has been accused of dropping barrel bombs on civilians to cement his authoritarian grip on power - jihadist groups, moderate Syrian rebels, the US, and Russia are all currently major players in Syria.
Russia started bombing rebel factions in September. Experts say Russia's campaign in Syria aims to prop up the Assad regime under the guise of fighting the terrorist group ISIS (also known as the Islamic State).