The visit, made at President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's invitation, is Xi's first trip to Cairo in a decade and the only bilateral state visit on his 2026 calendar.
In the op-ed, Xi said Egypt-China relations have "maintained their direction of development without deviation" despite shifts in the international order, citing China's support for Egypt's sovereignty over the Suez Canal and Egypt's vote to restore China's seat at the United Nations as the friendship's founding acts of solidarity.
"Whoever drinks from the waters of the Nile returns to it again," Xi wrote, quoting an Egyptian proverb as he recalled his first visit to Cairo a decade ago. He said Egypt's "ancient and deeply rooted civilization" and its momentum toward progress had left "a profound impression" on him.
Egypt and China have remained "close friends" who "support and stand by each other," Xi wrote, tracing the friendship to their peoples' shared struggle for national independence against imperialism and colonialism.
China showed "strong solidarity" with Egypt's fight to restore sovereignty over the Suez Canal, and Egypt "voted with a firm stance," alongside several Asian, African, Latin American, and Caribbean countries, to restore China's "legitimate seat" at the United Nations, the Chinese president added.
Xi described the two countries as "trusted partners" pursuing shared gains through what he called a comprehensive strategic partnership. He said Egypt was one of the first countries to join Belt and Road cooperation, linking that push to Egypt's own "New Republic" development drive and "Vision 2030" strategy, alongside China's latest five-year economic plan.
He recalled that he and El-Sisi "jointly elevated" the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone 10 years ago, calling it a source of "huge investment and broad job opportunities" for Egyptians. China has invested $1.4 billion in Egypt in recent years, much of it channelled through the Suez Canal Economic Zone, now home to some 200 Chinese companies.
Xi credited Chinese firms with building Africa's tallest building, the 78-storey Iconic Tower in Egypt's New Capital, calling it proof of "mutually beneficial cooperation." The tower's builder, China State Construction Engineering Corporation, won a top industry award for its steel structure.
He also pointed to an electric rail line linking Cairo to the New Capital, financed through a Chinese loan, which he described as the first of its kind on the African continent.
Xi said China wants to build on Egypt's role as a "geographic hub" linking Africa and the Arab world, citing a framework he called "five cooperation formulas" with Arab states and "ten action plans" for China-Africa cooperation. He described Egypt as a major Arab and African power positioned to help lead that cooperation forward "with steady and sustainable steps."
Egypt's Nile-born civilization and China's civilization, nourished by the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, have long admired each other "despite the geographical distance between them," Xi wrote.
Porcelain, silk, embroidery, and papermaking techniques travelled from China to the West, he said, while spices, glassware, and astronomy flowed from Egypt to the East, along an ancient Silk Road that "never for a single day" stopped that exchange.
Chinese artefacts unearthed at Cairo's Fustat archaeological site are evidence of ties "since ancient times," Xi wrote, noting that more than 40 Egyptian secondary schools now teach Chinese language as the two countries deepen educational ties.
He also said the Grand Egyptian Museum has drawn large numbers of Chinese visitors since opening, while an exhibition on ancient Egyptian civilization was staged in Shanghai.
On regional politics, Xi voiced support for what he called the Palestinian people's "just cause" to restore their "legitimate national rights" and said China and Egypt are committed to facilitating political settlements to regional "hotspot issues."
Egypt recognized the People's Republic of China on 30 May 1956, becoming the first Arab and African country, and the 23rd worldwide, to do so. The two countries trace their political solidarity to the 1955 Bandung Conference, where Chinese premier Zhou Enlai met Egyptian president Gamal Abdel-Nasser amid a shared struggle against colonialism.
Ties were elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership in December 2014, and Xi last visited Cairo in January 2016. El-Sisi and Xi marked the Egypt-China Partnership Year in May 2024, celebrating the partnership's 10th anniversary, when the Egyptian president invited Xi to visit Egypt.
Egypt and China have remained "close friends" who "support and stand by each other," Xi wrote, tracing the friendship to their peoples' shared struggle for national independence against imperialism and colonialism.
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