President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi of Egypt paid a three-day visit (February 3 to February 5, 2022) to China. Fatah Al-Sisi attended the Winter Olympics Games’ opening ceremony, on February 4, 2022, in Beijing. President Al-Sisi and the leaders of Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Saudi Arabia attended the ceremony and later held bilateral meetings with the Chinese leadership. These meetings were dubbed as ‘mini-summits’ by the global media. President Xi Jinping held the ‘mini-summits’ amidst the growing diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics by many countries, including the United States (US), Australia, United Kingdom (UK), and Germany on account of China’s human rights violations. Xi held a bilateral meeting with Al-Sisi on February 5, 2022. Al-Sisi’s visit was primarily intended at strengthening the mechanisms of cooperation between China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)[i] and Egypt’s Vision 2030[ii], under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP).[iii] This paper examines the relationship between Egypt and China in the context of growing geostrategic changes and the synergy between BRI and Egypt’s Vision 2030.
The modern history of Egypt-China relations goes back to May 1956, when Egypt became the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic ties with China. The relationship between the two countries suffered some setbacks during the Chinese Cultural Revolution[iv] (1966-1969) but was again revived in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War,[v] when China became one of the major suppliers of military equipment and economic aid to Egypt. Thereafter, the relationship grew significantly and covered economic, security, social, and cultural spheres. In April 1999, President Hosni Mubarak visited China, and it was then that both sides decided to establish Strategic Cooperation Relations.[vi] During the Arab Spring[vii] in 2011, Egypt was not able to focus on the bilateral relationship because it was tackling the internal political crisis. The relationship found further momentum only after Fatah Al-Sisi became the President of Egypt in 2014, and in the same year, Egypt signed the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP)[viii] with China. So far, in the eight years of his presidency, Al-Sisi has made seven visits to China.
Mini-Summit at Beijing
President Xi held the ‘mini-summit’ with President Al-Sisi to expand the synergy between BRI and Egypt’s Vision 2030 under the rubric of the CSP. The CSP became the significant platform to strengthen the cooperation between BRI and Egypt’s Vision 2030, help Egypt accelerate its pace of industrialisation, enhance its scientific and technological capabilities, uplift its development level, and deepen the law enforcement and security cooperation to safeguard common security of the two countries.[ix] At the summit, Xi stressed linking the BRI with Egypt’s Vision 2030, while Al-Sisi stated that “Egypt is ready to continue to take an active part in the BRI and accelerate Egypt’s development by comprehensively expanding cooperation with China in areas of industrial development, bilateral trade, and infrastructure projects.”[x] One of the central components of the Egypt’s Vision 2030 is the President Al-Sisi’s ‘Decent Life Initiative’ (2019) that aimed to develop and improve the lives of more than half of the Egyptians through developing infrastructure and investment in human capital.[xi] The initiative is to increase the prospects of jobs for the unemployed youth and improve the living conditions of the vulnerable sections of the population to prevent the return of political instability.
Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCEZ)[xii] is the primary focal point of BRI’s projects in Egypt. As a result, both leaders agreed on the role of the SCEZ in the expansion of the Egyptian-Chinese Zone for economic and trade cooperation. This strategy is expected to develop the Suez Canal as a global logistics and economic centre. Besides, they approved the implementation of the Global Development Initiative[xiii] to maximise joint development cooperation, strengthening communication, and political consultation to complete the projects such as the Egyptian satellite, health industries, the infrastructure of Port Said, and the development of electric trains and cars to connect the new administrative capital to greater Cairo and Salam city.[xiv] The new administrative capital is a ‘megaproject’, which is being built approximately 45 KM to the East of Cairo on a swathe of desert.
President Xi announced that the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) with Egypt might become a tool to further the same modalities with other Arab and African countries to strengthen the China-developing world solidarity.[xv] In this backdrop, to expand their political cooperation, Al-Sisi and Xi discussed several regional and international issues of common interest, including the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam[xvi] in which China has not only invested the money but also showed keen interest as a mediator between Ethiopia and Egypt on the issue of the equitable allocation of the Nile’s waters.[xvii] They also exchanged views about the ongoing political crises in Libya, Syria and Yemen.[xviii] In addition, to intensifying their cultural cooperation, Cairo and Beijing agreed that Egypt will take the lead in China-Arab and China-Africa cooperation in building people-to-people cooperation.[xix]
President Xi and President Al-Sisi also vowed to continue their cooperation to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. Egypt has been cooperating with Chinese Covid-19 vaccine manufacturer Sinovac in clinical trials since 2020. Sinovac is helping Egypt build automatic refrigeration storage that can store as many as 150 million shots, which will be the biggest in Africa when completed. [xx]
In a nutshell, the emerging synergy between BRI and Egypt’s Vision 2030 is due to the growing economic complementarities and geopolitical convergences between China and Egypt that are driven by the mutual perspectives of the two countries. From China’s perspective, in West Asia and North Africa (WANA), Egypt is the regional leader due to its most powerful armed forces[xxi] and its geo-strategically and economically important transcontinental location that can be beneficial in promoting and protecting China’s BRI. It has strong relations with energy resources-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are valued partners of Beijing.[xxii] Therefore, China’s motive to grow deeper ties with Egypt represents an attempt to strengthen its influence and power in the region. From the Egyptian perspective, after the Arab Spring, Cairo needed a sovereign foreign policy to protect the country’s interests due to the incessant western intervention in the country on the issue of purported human rights violations. In addition, it also actively sought Chinese investment to avoid the stringent conditions embedded with western investment.[xxiii]
Conclusion
President Al-Sisi’s meeting with President Xi was symbolically important because it reflected diplomatic support to China amidst the growing international criticism of Beijing’s human rights records. The frequent visits of Al-Sisi to China show that Cairo and Beijing are maximising their capabilities and strengthening win-win cooperation in achieving their geopolitical, economic, and strategic interests. Besides, Al-Sisi’s visit to China amidst the international boycott of the Winter Olympics proved that Egypt is shifting its foreign policy priorities from Western countries toward China. However, it is yet to be seen in coming times how China will establish its footings in Egypt and the region, given the emerging regional alliances between Arab countries and Israel under the US-led Abraham Accords and the role of the US in determining its superpower status in the region.
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*Dr. Arshad is a Research Fellow at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi
Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal.
End Notes
[i] President Xi Jinping announced the BRI in 2013. BRI is a “global infrastructure strategy” to promote connectivity of Asia, Europe, and Africa and their adjacent seas by recognizing economic and trade passages.
[ii] President Al-Sisi announced it in 2016 to introduce Egypt’s Sustainable Development Strategy to place the country among the top 30 countries’ economic growth by 2030.
[iii] The CSP is a long-term interaction between two countries based on political, economic, historical, and social factors. China and Egypt signed the CSP in 2014.
[iv] It was a socio-political movement in China under the leadership of Mao Zedong.
[v] It was also known as Ramadan War, fought between Arab and Israeli forces.
[vi] Jiuzhou, Duan (2022). “China and Egypt relations during the BRI era and beyond”, in Jonathan Fulton (Ed.), Routledge Handbook on China-Middle East Relations, New York: Routledge, p.127
[vii] The Arab Spring or Arab Revolution was a series of popular protests against the Arab regimes that started in 2011 under the Jasmine Revolution of Tunisia.
[viii] The CSP is a long-term interaction between two countries based on political, economic, historical, and social factors. China and Egypt signed the CSP in 2014.
[ix] Roundup: China-Egypt ties receive new boost with Sisi’s latest China visit, Xinhuanet.com, February 7, 2022, accessed https://bit.ly/3uTsm51, February 16, 2022.
[x] Xi Jinping meets with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, February, 5, 2022, accessed https://bit.ly/34GFFvb, February 15, 2022.
[xi] ‘Decent Life’ Presidential Initiative, accessed https://mcit.gov.eg/en/decent_life, March 4, 2022
[xii] Xi announced at Mini-Summit to establish a vocational training center at Suez Canal Economic Zone.
[xiii] Xi announced it during his speech at the general debate of the UNGA on September 22, 2021, where he called for greener and more balanced global development.
[xiv] Egyptian, Chinese presidents discuss vaccine cooperation, electric cars in Beijing, Arab News, February 6, 2022, accessed https://bit.ly/3HWhQ0M, February 14, 2022.
[xv] Xi says China, Egypt hold similar visions and strategies, Macau Daily Times, February 7, 2022, accessed https://bit.ly/3rYzBa4, February 15, 2022.
[xvi] It is located on Blue Nile River in Ethiopia.
[xvii] John Mukum Mbaku, The Controversy over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Brookings, August 5, 2020, accessed https://brook.gs/3tt4B1h, March 1, 2022.
[xviii] Sisi, his Chinese counterpart hold summit in Beijing, Egypt: State Information Service, February 5, 2022, accessed https://bit.ly/3JR5mI5, February 17, 2022.
[xix] Ibid.
[xx] Xi meets with Egyptian president, calls bilateral ties example of win-win cooperation, Global Times, February 5, 2022, accessed https://bit.ly/3vdmEeA, February 18, 2022.
[xxi] Power Index 2022, Global Fire Power, accessed https://bit.ly/3vwdN81, March 1, 2022.
[xxii] Calabrese, John. Towering ambitions: Egypt and China building for the future, Middle East Institute, October 6, 2020, accessed https://bit.ly/34LFdeU, February 14, 2022.
[xxiii] Mordechai, Chaziza (2016). Comprehensive Strategic Partnership: a new stage in China-Egypt relations, Middle East Review of International Affairs (Online), Vol.20, No.3, 41-50. p.42