Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Egypt yesterday, his first visit to the Arab world’s most populous nation in a decade, as countries across the Middle East reassess security and economic ties amid the fallout of the Iran war.
The conflict has disrupted global energy markets.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi welcomed Xi at Cairo International Airport, where they walked a long red carpet flanked by uniformed soldiers, folk dancers and young Egyptians waving Chinese flags, Egyptian state TV footage showed.
Over the past week, Egyptian state media has trumpeted Cairo’s growing economic and military ties with Beijing and Egypt’s role as the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic ties with China 70 years ago.
“Egypt and China have become partners contributing together to strengthening the role of the Global South in the international system,” Sisi wrote in an op-ed in state newspaper Al Ahram.
Xi’s visit is the second leg of his second overseas trip this year, following his participation in a Shanghai Co-operation Organisation summit in Kyrgyzstan where he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and others.
In commentary published by Chinese state news agency Xinhua, Xi said the two countries were ‘close brothers standing by each other’ in the face of imperialism and colonialism and that he looked forward to exploring a deeper partnership.
Last month Egypt – which receives about $1.3 billion a year in US military aid – hosted its second annual military exercises with China, launched last year as Beijing sought to chip away at US influence in the region.
The drills marked the first deployment of China’s J-16 jets to Africa and a rare air combat drill involving the Chinese-made fighters and French-made Rafales, according to Chinese state media.
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