Xi Jinping Visits Egypt as China Deepens Middle East Engagement

Xi Arrives in Cairo for Landmark Visit

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived at Cairo airport on Tuesday evening, beginning a three-day visit to Egypt—his first in a decade and his first trip to the Middle East since visiting Saudi Arabia in 2022. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and military guards received Xi on the tarmac with a red-carpet ceremony, with Chinese and Egyptian flags on display.

The two leaders are scheduled to hold talks on Wednesday, and Xi is expected to visit the Grand Egyptian Museum near the pyramids of Giza. El-Sissi has visited China multiple times in recent years, reflecting the growing frequency of high-level exchanges between the two nations.

Marking Seven Decades of Diplomatic Ties

The visit coincides with the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Egypt. To mark the occasion, both leaders published opinion pieces on Tuesday in Egypt's state-run newspapers. Xi wrote that Beijing and Cairo should "expand the scope of pragmatic collaboration" through development, while el-Sissi praised China's investments in Egypt and reiterated Cairo's support for China's claim that Taiwan is part of its territory.

The trip is widely seen as part of China's broader strategy to strengthen ties with Egypt, a key US ally in the region, and to position itself as a stabilising force. Amr Hamzawy, director of the Washington-based Carnegie Middle East Program, wrote in a paper earlier this year that "China continues to build up its soft power reserves while the United States self-sabotages its own stock."

Economic Ties and Strategic Partnerships

Egypt has sought to diversify its strategic partnerships, and its relationship with China has deepened significantly in recent years. In 2023, Egypt was invited to join BRICS, the grouping of emerging economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, and is seen as a counterweight to Western-led institutions. A year later, Egypt signed agreements with China linked to the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi's flagship policy to build infrastructure around the world.

China has invested more than $10 billion in Egypt, including in a business hub east of Cairo and an electric rail line for industry in the Nile Delta. Annual trade between the two countries is estimated at $20 billion, according to government figures.

Regional Diplomacy and Broader Context

The visit comes against a backdrop of significant regional developments. In 2023, Beijing brokered an agreement to restore diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia, a deal that highlighted China's ambition to compete with the US for influence in the region. Since then, ties between Riyadh and Tehran have frayed, with Iran attacking Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries as part of its retaliation against the US and Israel.

China has also long backed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Shortly before Hamas militants attacked Israel in 2023 and triggered the war in Gaza, Xi hosted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and announced a "strategic partnership" with the Palestinian Authority.

Xi arrived in Cairo after attending a two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, where leaders from Russia, India, Pakistan, and Iran gathered at a meeting billed as a counterweight to US global influence. The visit also follows what has been described as the Trump administration's "economic onslaught" on Iran's financial links worldwide, aimed at isolating Iran from its remaining economic partners, including China, which buys more than 80 percent of Iranian oil shipments, usually through indirect channels. Beijing has said its trade with Iran has always complied with international law.

In August, China and Egypt held a multi-day air exercise at several Egyptian bases, the first combat exercise involving China's J-16 fighter jets and Egypt's French-made Rafale fighters, underscoring the expanding military dimension of their relationship.

With oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz heavily disrupted by the Iran war, the Suez Canal, controlled by Egypt, has become an important alternative route for energy supplies leaving the region, adding strategic significance to Cairo's role.

Analyst Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat of Jakarta's Center of Economic and Law Studies noted that Xi sees Egypt "as a base to reach the wider Arab and African world, at a time when the US has less attention to spare there."