China is bringing workers home from Syria, its Commerce Minister said on Wednesday, in an apparent attempt to avoid a repeat of last year’s eleventh-hour rescue of Chinese nationals from Libya when violence engulfed the country. Only about 100 Chinese workers will be left behind to guard work camps and equipment, minister Chen Deming said, without giving figures for the total number of Chinese citizens or projects in Syria. ‘The Chinese government and ministries must seriously undertake the protection of Chinese firms’ production and projects overseas, and the protection of the lives of Chinese citizens overseas, especially engineering teams’, Chen told reporters.