A Xinhua commentary published by People’s Daily Online on Tuesday said the visit, which coincides with the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations, would inject “fresh impetus” into ties and advance what Beijing calls a China-Egypt “community with a shared future.”
The commentary reflects a broader Chinese media narrative presenting Egypt as a strategic economic partner, an influential Arab and African state, and a key participant in Beijing-backed frameworks such as the Belt and Road Initiative and BRICS.
Xi arrived in Cairo on Tuesday for his first Egypt visit in a decade and was received by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. The visit marks the latest step in relations that were elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2014.
The Xinhua commentary described the seven-decade relationship as evidence of what “solidarity and cooperation can achieve,” highlighting the two countries’ historical opposition to colonialism and their support for one another on issues of national sovereignty.
It recalled China’s support for Egypt following the nationalization of the Suez Canal and Egypt’s 1971 vote in favour of restoring the People’s Republic of China’s seat at the United Nations.
Chinese media have repeatedly presented this political history as the foundation of a relationship that has remained stable despite changes in the regional and international landscape.
The commentary said relations were now “at their best in history,” noting that Xi and El-Sisi had met more than 10 times over the past decade. Their meetings, it added, had provided strategic direction for cooperation in trade, investment, industry, energy, technology, and cultural exchange.
In a separate article published in Al-Ahram ahead of the visit, Xi used the 70th anniversary to call for a new journey of cooperation, identifying industrial development, education, infrastructure, and support for Palestinian statehood among Beijing’s priorities.
Economic cooperation occupied a central place in the Xinhua commentary. It cited the China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, the Benban Solar Park, the MisrSat-2 remote-sensing satellite, and the Government Data and Cloud Computing Centre as examples of the partnership’s expansion into manufacturing, renewable energy, space technology, and digital governance.
China has remained Egypt’s largest trading partner for more than a decade. Bilateral trade reached around $20.8 billion in 2025, although Chinese exports accounted for the overwhelming majority, leaving Egypt with a substantial trade imbalance.
Chinese companies have also expanded their presence in manufacturing, transport, electronics, renewable energy, and electric vehicles as Egypt seeks to attract investment and position itself as a production and export hub serving African, Arab, and European markets.
The visit is therefore being presented as an opportunity to move relations beyond infrastructure projects and pursue wider cooperation in industrial localization, technology transfer, and advanced manufacturing. A detailed assessment published ahead of the trip said trade and investment were expected to dominate the economic agenda.
Chinese coverage has also emphasized the relationship’s cultural dimension. Xinhua pointed to joint archaeological excavations in Luxor and exhibitions of Egyptian antiquities in China as examples of exchanges linking two of the world’s oldest civilizations.
This cultural framing has appeared alongside media coverage of Egyptians studying, teaching, and trading in China. An estimated 8,000 Egyptians in China were recorded at the end of 2024, according to figures released by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics.
A Global Times Institute survey published ahead of Xi’s arrival similarly sought to measure Chinese public attitudes toward Egypt. Seventy percent of respondents described Egypt as either a “friendly country” or a “strategic partner,” and nearly 70 percent said they were optimistic about the future of bilateral relations.
The Chinese public opinion survey also found that more than 80 percent of respondents were aware of concrete cooperation between the two countries, including Belt and Road projects, transport infrastructure, and cultural programmes.
Beyond bilateral relations, Xinhua portrayed Egypt as the starting point for China’s engagement with the Arab world, noting that Cairo was the first Arab and African capital to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing in 1956.
The commentary also highlighted coordination at the United Nations, BRICS, the Group of 20, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, arguing that closer cooperation would amplify the voice of developing countries.
Against what it described as a fragile global economic recovery, rising unilateralism, and escalating regional conflicts, Xinhua framed the visit as part of a wider effort to strengthen Global South cooperation and promote what Beijing regards as a more equitable international order.
The commentary concluded that China would use Xi’s visit to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with Egypt, support multilateralism, and expand coordination with Arab and other developing countries.
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