Xi leaves Cairo after first Egypt state visit in a decade and calls for a new Middle East security order

Chinese President Xi Jinping left Cairo on 3 September after a two-day state visit, his first trip to Egypt since 2016. The visit marked 70 years of diplomatic relations. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and First Lady Entissar el-Sisi met Xi and Peng Liyuan at Cairo International Airport on the evening of 1 September. A formal reception followed at Al-Ittihadiya Palace on 2 September, with a guard of honour and a 21-gun salute.

The two governments issued a joint statement on further deepening their comprehensive strategic partnership. Officials said more than 20 cooperation documents were signed, covering the Belt and Road, artificial intelligence, trade, industrial and supply chains, the digital economy, science, education and transport. A complete list was not released with the statement.

Xi used the talks to float a regional security idea that sits directly against the present war. He said Middle Eastern countries should oppose external interference and explore a new “security architecture,” and that they should be “masters of their own destiny.” He offered Chinese help to safeguard shipping routes, a live issue after months of disruption in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandeb. Xinhua said the two sides agreed to deepen security and counterterrorism work.

Before departure the two couples toured the Grand Egyptian Museum on the Giza Plateau. They stood for photographs in front of the colossal statue of Ramesses II and walked the Tutankhamun galleries, including the gold mask, the throne and the royal chariot. Sisi thanked Xi for a congratulatory letter sent when the museum opened last year. He linked the museum’s message of mixed civilisations to Xi’s Global Civilization Initiative. Cai Qi and Wang Yi were present.

The Egypt stop followed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek. Xi’s wider tour ran from 30 August to 2 September. The Cairo leg is the part that matters for the Gulf war. China buys large volumes of Gulf crude and has spent a decade building ports, rail and power plants along the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. A closed Hormuz raises the value of those land and canal routes. A Chinese president standing in Cairo and talking about shipping security is making that calculation public.

Egypt’s interest is cash and cover. Sisi needs investment and wants room between Washington and Beijing while Israeli and American operations continue to the east. The 20-plus documents give ministries paper to work with. They do not, by themselves, move battalions or reopen the strait.

What the visit changes is the guest list. A Chinese head of state in Cairo during an American war with Iran is a signal to Gulf capitals that another security conversation exists. Whether that conversation produces a working architecture, or only communiqués, will be visible in how Chinese escorts, insurers and grain ships behave in the Red Sea this winter.