Xi Visits Egypt, Seeks Deeper Influence09/02 06:18

   

   CAIRO (AP) -- On the surface, Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Egypt 
this week is a run-of-the-mill opportunity for two countries to strengthen 
economic and diplomatic ties.

   But there is deep subtext to the meeting between Xi and Egyptian President 
Abdel Fattah el-Sissi: China, the United States' top global rival, is 
cultivating an extensive relationship with one of America's key allies in the 
Middle East as it moves to expand its influence in the rapidly changing region.

   Xi aims to present China as a stabilizer in the region and contrast it with 
the United States, which for decades has been militarily entangled there -- its 
six-month war with Iran being just the latest example.

   "China continues to build up its soft power reserves while the United States 
self-sabotages its own stock," Amr Hamzawy, director of the Washington-based 
Carnegie Middle East Program, wrote in a paper earlier this year along with 
Kathryn Selfe, a former fellow at the program.

   Xi arrived Tuesday evening at the Cairo airport, which was adorned with 
Chinese and Egyptian flags. El-Sissi and military guards greeted him on the 
tarmac with a red-carpet ceremony. The leaders are scheduled to hold talks on 
Wednesday, and Xi plans to visit the Grand Egyptian Museum, near the pyramids 
of Giza.

   It has been a while since Xi has visited the Mideast

   Xi will be in Egypt for three days. It is his first visit there in a decade, 
and his first trip to the region since visiting Saudi Arabia in 2022. El-Sissi 
has visited China multiple times in recent years.

   The leaders marked 70 years of diplomatic ties by publishing friendly 
opinion pieces Tuesday in Egypt's state-run newspapers.

   Xi wrote that Beijing and Cairo should "expand the scope of pragmatic 
collaboration" through development. El-Sissi lauded China's investments 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.

   A year later, Egypt signed agreements with China to collaborate on its Belt 
and Road Initiative, a signature policy of Xi's that seeks to build power and 
transportation infrastructure around the world.

   China has invested more than $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 the two countries is estimated at $20 billion, 
according to government figures.

   Trade between the U.S. and Egypt was $15.7 billion in 2025. Egypt is a 
crucial partner in U.S. national security priorities in the region, and the 
countries' leaders enjoy close ties.

   China has been trying to build bridges between Mideast nations

   In 2023, Beijing brokered a deal to reestablish diplomatic ties between Iran 
-- its most important regional ally and oil supplier -- and Saudi Arabia, a 
longtime U.S. ally. The agreement showcased China's aspirations to compete with 
the United States for influence in the Mideast.

   Since then, ties between Riyadh and Tehran have frayed. Iran attacked Saudi 
Arabia and other Gulf countries as part of its retaliation against the U.S. and 
Israel, which launched the war on Feb. 28.

   China has cast itself as a regional mediator in other ways. It has long 
advocated a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is 
seen by the Arab world as a linchpin to regional stability.

   Shortly before Hamas militants attacked Israel in 2023 and launched the war 
in Gaza, Xi had hosted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and announced a 
"strategic partnership" with the Palestinian Authority.

   The Suez Canal is a vital alternative to the Strait of Hormuz

   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.

   "China has good reason to strengthen ties with the country that controls the 
route still open," said Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, a Middle East expert with 
Jakarta's Center of Economic and Law Studies.

   Xi views Egypt "as a base to reach the wider Arab and African world, at a 
time when the U.S. has less attention to spare there," said Rakhmat.

   In August, China and Egypt held a multiday air exercise at several bases 
across Egypt -- the first-ever combat exercise for China's J-16 fighter jets 
and Egypt's French-made Rafale fighters.

   Xi is visiting Cairo after attending a two-day conference of the 10-nation 
Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a political and security group billed as a 
counterweight to U.S. global influence. The leaders of Russia, India, Pakistan 
and Iran attended the conference in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek.

   The trip also comes on the heels of the Trump administration's "economic 
onslaught" on Iran's financial connections around the world. The sanctions aim 
to isolate the Islamic Republic from its remaining economic partners, including 
China, which buys more than 80% of Iranian oil shipments, usually through 
indirect channels.

   Beijing says its trade with Iran has always abided by international law.