Xi Jinping Visits Egypt, Calls for New Middle East Security Order

CAIRO, Egypt —

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Cairo this week for his first visit to Egypt in a decade, using the trip to call on Middle Eastern nations to resist outside interference and consider a new regional security order, according to Reuters. It was the second stop on Xi's second overseas trip of the year, following a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kyrgyzstan, Korea Herald reported.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi greeted Xi at Cairo International Airport with a red carpet lined by soldiers, folk dancers and young Egyptians waving Chinese flags, according to footage from Egyptian state television cited by Korea Herald. Xi later told regional leaders they should be "masters of their own destiny" and floated a new security architecture for the region, China's state news agency Xinhua reported, according to Reuters.

The visit lands as the fallout from the US war against Iran unsettles governments across the region. Reuters reported that the conflict has disrupted trade through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandeb strait and left US partners questioning Washington's staying power. Xi said China was ready to help protect shipping routes through those waters, according to Reuters.

Deals on Chips, Data and Currency

Chinese and Egyptian officials agreed to deepen security and counterterrorism cooperation and to expand work together on data centers, semiconductors and critical metals, along with wider use of each other's currencies in trade, according to a joint statement reported by Reuters. Egyptian authorities also announced plans to expand a Chinese-built industrial zone inside the Suez Canal Economic Zone, which has already drawn about $4 billion in Chinese investment, Reuters reported. ZC Rubber Group signed a preliminary deal to study a $500 million tire plant there.

Egypt imported roughly $10 billion worth of Chinese goods in the first half of this year alone, according to Reuters, and Chinese money has poured into ports, green hydrogen projects and manufacturing since Sissi signed a strategic partnership with Beijing in 2014.

A Test of Egypt's Balancing Act

Egypt still receives about $1.3 billion a year in US military aid, according to Reuters and Korea Herald, and last month held a second round of joint military drills with China that included a rare air combat exercise pairing Chinese J-16 fighters with French-made Rafale jets.

"Egypt wants to widen the circle of its relations with major world powers, including China," former Egyptian diplomat Ayman Zaineldine told Reuters. H. A. Hellyer, a scholar at the Royal United Services Institute, told Reuters that Egypt offers Beijing "a large domestic market" and diplomatic weight on issues including the Palestinian question. Xi is expected to travel to India and the United States later this month, according to Reuters.