Xi urges Middle East to forge its own security order as Egypt visit deepens China ties
By Alexander Dziadosz and Shi Bu
CAIRO/BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping stood with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on Wednesday and called on Middle Eastern countries to resist external interference and design their own security architecture — a message aimed squarely at a region unsettled by the U.S. campaign against Iran.
Xi's first trip to the Middle East in four years comes as American allies and partners there reassess old assumptions about Washington's role. Months of conflict have rattled trade routes, strained economies and left Gulf states weighing whether the United States will remain the guarantor of regional stability.
Egypt is a telling stop. It still receives about $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid per year, yet it has steadily expanded defense and industrial cooperation with China. On arrival, Xi was greeted with a military ceremony in Cairo.
According to China's state news agency Xinhua, Xi told assembled officials that regional countries should be “masters of their own destiny” and explore a new regional security structure. He also pledged to work with regional states to keep sea lanes open — a matter grown more urgent since conflict disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb.
In a joint statement, the two governments said they would deepen security and counterterrorism cooperation, and broaden cooperation on data centers, semiconductors and supply chains for critical metals. They also agreed to promote the use of their national currencies in bilateral trade and investment.
Strategic balance
For Egypt, closer ties with Beijing fit a broad drive to diversify partners in a more fragmented world. In an article published before the visit, Sisi described Egypt's foreign policy as a pursuit of “strategic balance” amid intensifying great-power rivalry.
Former Egyptian diplomat Ayman Zaineldine said Cairo and Beijing see eye to eye. “Egypt wants to widen the circle of its relations with major world powers, including China,” he told Reuters. “So the visions converge.”
From Beijing's perspective, Egypt offers a rare mix of assets, said H. A. Hellyer, a scholar at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank. “Egypt represents something quite valuable to Beijing – a large domestic market for investment opportunities, and a lot of diplomatic weight in the region, including the Palestine question, as well as connectivity to Africa,” he said.
The expanding relationship has been visible in the military sphere. Last month's “Eagles of Civilization” exercises with China included an unusual formation: Chinese-made J-16 fighter jets flying alongside Egypt's French-made Rafale aircraft.
Economic ties expand
Economic links are thickening. Egypt, home to the Suez Canal and a population of more than 110 million, imported about $10 billion in Chinese goods in the first half of this year alone. Since Sisi visited Beijing in 2014 and signed a strategic partnership agreement, Chinese money has flowed into container ports, green hydrogen projects, and plants making iron pipes, tires and satellites.
Investment has also concentrated around the Suez Canal Economic Zone, which Egypt's cabinet says has attracted about $4 billion in Chinese funds. On Wednesday, Egyptian authorities announced plans to expand a Chinese-developed industrial area in the zone, while ZC Rubber Group signed a preliminary agreement to study building a $500 million tire manufacturing complex.
Xi's carefully staged Cairo stop is unlikely to mark a rupture in Egypt's long-standing U.S. alliance. But the choreography and range of agreements signal that Cairo, like several other American partners in the region, sees value in keeping Beijing close as Washington's security commitments face new tests.
(Reporting by Alexander Dziadosz and Mohamed Ezz in Cairo, and Ethan Wang, Yukun Zhang and Shi Bu in Beijing; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Ros Russell)