Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Egypt on Tuesday for a three-day visit aimed at strengthening economic and diplomatic ties with Cairo, but the trip also carries broader strategic significance as Beijing seeks to expand its influence in the Middle East.

Xi’s visit is his first to Egypt in a decade and his first trip to the region since his 2022 visit to Saudi Arabia. It comes as China seeks to present itself as a stabilising force in the region and deepen relations with Egypt, a longstanding US partner that occupies a strategically important position between the Middle East and Africa.

Xi Jinping Receives Red-Carpet Welcome In Cairo

Xi landed at Cairo airport on Tuesday evening, where Egyptian and Chinese flags were displayed for his arrival. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and military guards welcomed him with a red-carpet ceremony.

The two leaders are scheduled to hold talks on Wednesday. Xi is also expected to visit the Grand Egyptian Museum near the pyramids of Giza during his three-day stay.

The visit coincides with the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Egypt. Both leaders published opinion pieces in Egypt’s state-run newspapers on Tuesday, underscoring the importance they attach to the relationship.

Xi said Beijing and Cairo should “expand the scope of pragmatic collaboration” through development. El-Sissi, meanwhile, highlighted Chinese investments in Egypt and reiterated Cairo’s support for Beijing’s position that Taiwan is part of Chinese territory.

Egypt Seeks To Diversify Strategic Partnerships

Egypt has increasingly viewed its relationship with China as a means of broadening its strategic partnerships. Cairo was invited to join BRICS in 2023, alongside Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The grouping is widely seen as a counterweight to Western-led institutions such as the G7.

Egypt signed agreements with China related to the Belt and Road Initiative a year later. The initiative is Xi’s flagship programme for developing infrastructure and transport networks across countries around the world.

Chinese investment in Egypt has exceeded USD 10 billion. Projects include a business hub east of Cairo and an electric rail line serving industry in the Nile Delta. Government figures put annual trade between the two countries at around USD 20 billion.

By comparison, trade between the United States and Egypt reached USD 15.7 billion in 2025. Despite Cairo’s growing engagement with Beijing, Egypt remains an important US partner on national security issues in the region.

Beijing Positions Itself As Regional Bridge-Builder

China’s outreach to Egypt is also part of a wider effort to establish itself as an influential diplomatic actor in the Middle East. In 2023, Beijing brokered an agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic relations.

The deal was significant because Iran is China’s most important regional ally and oil supplier, while Saudi Arabia has traditionally been a close US partner. It was consequently seen as an indication of Beijing’s ambition to compete with Washington for influence in the region.

Relations between Riyadh and Tehran have since deteriorated. Iran attacked Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries as part of its retaliation against the US and Israel, which launched the war on February 28.

Beijing has also consistently supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an issue regarded across much of the Arab world as central to regional stability. 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.

Suez Canal Adds Strategic Importance To Egypt Ties

Egypt’s control of the Suez Canal has added another strategic dimension to Xi’s visit. With oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz heavily disrupted by the Iran war, the canal has emerged as an important alternative route for energy supplies leaving 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.

Rakhmat said 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”.

China and Egypt also conducted a multi-day air exercise at several Egyptian bases in August. It was the first combat exercise involving China’s J-16 fighter jets and Egypt’s French-made Rafale aircraft, adding a military dimension to their expanding relationship.

Xi Visit Follows SCO Summit And Iran Sanctions

Xi travelled to Cairo after attending a two-day summit of the 10-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Leaders from Russia, India, Pakistan and Iran were among those who attended the meeting, which is positioned as a counterweight to US global influence.

His Egypt visit also follows what was described as the Trump administration’s “economic onslaught” against Iran’s financial links around the world. The sanctions are intended to further isolate Tehran from its remaining economic partners, including China.

China buys more than 80 per cent of Iran’s oil shipments, generally through indirect channels. Beijing has maintained that its trade with Iran has always complied with international law.

Xi’s trip to Egypt therefore brings together several strands of China’s foreign policy: stronger economic engagement with Cairo, closer diplomatic and strategic ties across the Middle East, and a broader effort by Beijing to increase its influence in a region where the United States has long maintained a significant military presence.

Amr Hamzawy, director of the Washington-based Carnegie Middle East Program, and Kathryn Selfe, a former fellow at the programme, wrote earlier this year that “China continues to build up its soft power reserves while the United States self-sabotages its own stock.”

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