Dr.Syed Mehboob
Political and Economic Analyst
http//: www.thenewslark.com
email: drmehboob.thenewslark@gmail.com
Chinese policy of global peace, security, connectivity, cooperation and development made it world leader of peace and development. Its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) connected 150 countries which is 77 percent of total 193 countries of the world. Due to China’s policy of non-interference and cooperation more and more countries extending hands of friendship and cooperation with China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded a high-profile state visit to Cairo on September 2, 3 , 2026, marking his first and very important visit to Egypt in a decade. The visit commemorated the seventieth anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Egypt. Both leaders witnessed deals spanning Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation, artificial intelligence, data centers, semiconductors, and supply chain network. President Xi Jinping advocated for a new Middle East security framework and stated that regional nations should act as Masters of their own destiny. The visit highlights Egypt’s diplomatic balancing act as it deepens economic and military ties with China and other world powers.
The visit also came amid ongoing wars and conflicts in the Middle East that have challenged the two countries’ strategic interest in regional stability and peace. Despite the anniversary pomp and celebtratory atmosphere, the Middle East turmoil was also the motive for the deepening strategic partnership between the countries.
Egypt, a regional power surrounded by either wars or civil war, has worked hard in the past few years to defend its national security interests in a violent and volatile Middle East. It has seen one of its major economic assets, the Suez Canal. Lose over sixty percent of its revenue due to wider impact of Israeli war against Gaza and the ramifications of the US Iran war. China is Egypt’s top trading partner, has its energy supplies from the Gulf jeopardized due to the Strait of Hormuz closure and the ongoing military confrontation between the United States and Iran. It has had to resolute its Middle East exports due to disruptions in the Gulf, at the southern entry point of the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal. As a result, the two countries have a shared interest in stability and peace in the Middle East an interest that emanates from foreign policy premises and longstanding diplomatic relations.
Since the signing of its peace agreement with Israel in 1979, Egypt has been invested in using diplomacy, mediation, and other conflict resolution tools to incentivize peace for Israel and the Palestinians, for Israel and its other Arab neighbors, and for the Arabs of the Gulf and their neighbor Iran.
China is a trusted friend and development partners of more than 150 countries and has developed friendly relations with all countries of the Middle East and promoted strategic partnership with key regional powers. It has deepened economic, trade, technology, and security ties with countries as different as Israel and Iran. Diplomacy and mediation, next to economic and trade relations, have been China’s main tools to create more influence in the Middle East. In the past several years, China—staying true to its non- interventional politics and its objection to the use of military force in Middle Eastern conflicts—has proved itself as a peace-committed superpower, working with regional powers to solve their conflicts nonviolently and to develop collective security arrangements that they can manage autonomously. In doing so, China under Xi has systematically juxtaposed its role in the Middle East to the interventionist and military force–driven role of its global competitor, the United States. During President Xi Jinping’s visit, these different threads came together in two days full of diplomatic symbolism and political messages from both sides. Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al Sisi and his wife personally greeted the Chinese president and his wife at Cairo International Airport, which was festively decorated to commemorate the bilateral anniversary. President Xi Jinping moved across the Egyptian capital using his red flag car. The Egyptian presidential couple accompanied their Chinese counterpart on a tour of the newly inaugurated Grand Egyptian Museum, all pausing as they came face to face with King Tut’s legendary treasures.
It is important to mention that the two countries signed 25 bilateral agreements to deepen their economic, trade, technology, security, and military ties. Most importantly, China and Egypt agreed to link Egypt’s state sponsored, long term developmental strategy, Vision 2030 , to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for the Global south and enlarge the Chinese Egyptian Economic Zone (EEZ) at the Suez canal. As member of the BRICS, China and Egypt committed to increase bilateral trade using local currencies, a measure that helps Egypt reduce its dependency on the US dollar. With regard to the growing military cooperation between the two countries is the fact that president Xi Jinping’s visit came only a few days after the second ever joint air force training, Eagles of Civilization, in which Chinese fighter jets and Egyptian owned, Western manufactured fighter jets simulated combat situation.
In the joint communique at the end of the visit, Egypt renewed its longstanding diplomatic commitment to the One China principle. In return president XI Jinping committed China to a recognition of Egypt’s water strategy and rights to the water resources of the Nile. Given the ongoing conflict over the equitable distribution of the Nile resources between Ethiopia and Egypt and the perceived pro-Ethiopian Chinese diplomatic position, this shift signifies an important change that Egypt can count on in its future diplomatic attempt to commit Ethiopia to a negotiated bargain regarding Nile. Cairo is diversifying its partnerships and cooperation schemes, including in all military and technology matters, without binding itself on a patron superpower. China’s influence in the Middle East is rising, and Egypt’s international partnership amid regional turmoil in the Middle east are growing. Those are the key takeaways of XI’s visit to Egypt.
This was President Xi Jinping ‘s first visit to the region since 2022. The leaders marked seventy years of diplomatic ties by publishing friendly opinion piece in Egypt’s state run newspaper. President Xi Jinping wrote that China and Egypt should “ expand the scope of pragmatic collaboration” through development, El-Sissi lauded China’s investment in Egypt and reiterated Cairo’s support of China’s claim that Taiwan is part of its territory. Egypt views its growing relationship with China as a way to diversify its strategic partnerships.
In 2023, Egypt was invited to join the BRICS bloc of nations, a grouping of major emerging economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and is seen as a counterbalance to Western led institutions such as the G7. In 2024, Egypt signed agreements with China to collaborate on its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a signature policy of president Xi Jinping’s that seeks to build power and transportation infrastructure around the world.
China has invested more than US$ 10 billion in Egypt, building a business hub east of the capital Cairo, and an electric rail line for industry in the Nile Delta. Annual trade between China and Egypt is estimated US$ 20 billion.
China has been trying to build bridges between Middle East nations. In 2023, China brokered a deal to reestablish diplomatic ties between Iran, its most important regional ally and oil supplier and Saudi Arabia, an important Muslim country.
China is a regional mediator in other ways. It has long advocated a two state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, which is seen by almost al the Muslim countries and peace loving nations around the world. In 2023 China had hosted Palestinian President Mehmud Abbas and announced a “ Strategic Partnership” with the Palestinian Authority.
With oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz heavily disrupted by the Iran war, the Suez Canal, which is controlled by Egypt has become an important alternative path for getting energy supplies out of the region. ( Continued )
