China's Xi urges new Middle East security framework during Egypt visit

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Cairo, where they expressed agreement on several regional matters. These included the protection of Cairo's access to the Nile waters and the consolidation of the Gaza ceasefire. The two nations also signed an array of economic, industrial, and diplomatic agreements during the visit.

Xi Jinping arrived in Egypt on a state visit aimed at strengthening ties with Cairo, marking the 70th year of diplomatic relations between the two nations. Xi's visit comes at a time when there are high tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a dam on the Nile River.

Both leaders emphasized the significance of the Nile to Egypt's water and food security, calling for its "vital importance" and stressing Egypt's "legitimate right to protect its water and food security". They also rejected any actions that would displace Palestinians from their land, and expressed concern over Israel's actions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

China recognized Egypt's rights to protect its water and food security, and both countries emphasized the need for all Nile Basin states to adhere to international law, particularly regarding not causing harm to one another. The leaders also discussed Sudan's sovereignty and territorial integrity, pledging to work together to end the ongoing war and to initiate a Sudanese-led political process.

On the Red Sea, they acknowledged the primary responsibility of the littoral states for its governance and security. Egypt reaffirmed its commitment to China's one-China principle, acknowledging that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.

The two nations signed five formal agreements, covering a range of topics including the alignment of Egypt's Vision 2030 development plan with China's Belt and Road Initiative, economic and technical cooperation, industrial and supply-chain collaboration, information technology, and Suez Canal Economic Zone and China's commerce ministry agreements.

They also signed several other co-operation documents in areas such as the digital economy, finance, telecoms, media, technology transfer, electric vehicle manufacture, shipbuilding, solar panel and wind turbine production, seawater desalination, semiconductors, cloud computing, data centres, critical minerals supply chains, remote sensing, and artificial intelligence.