Sino-Egyptian Relations Post-2013: The Dynamics and Challenges of an Emerging Strategic Partnership

Notes

1. The authors would like to thank Fatimah Ayad (The British University in Egypt) for her valuable and constructive comments on earlier drafts of this article.

2. “Address to the First Session of the 12th National People's Congress.” The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, March 17, 2013. http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/c23934/202006/7954b8df92384c729c02be626840daed.shtml.

3. For more details about the Egyptian Dream, see “Seven Years of Development and Construction,” Al-Ahram (Cairo), June 6, 2021.

4. China delineates five categories of strategic partnerships, with each category entailing a different level of engagement in terms of prioritization and substance with regard to bilateral cooperation. Whereas “friendly cooperative partnership” comes at the very bottom of the hierarchy with a focus on strengthening cooperation on selected bilateral issues, “comprehensive strategic partnership” is at the top of China's hierarchy of partnerships, entailing the full and extensive pursuit of cooperation with respect to regional and international issues. See Chaziza, 2020.

5. The Sino-Egyptian comprehensive strategic partnership was followed by similar types of partnerships with Algeria in 2014, Saudi Arabia, and Iran in 2016, and the UAE in 2018.

6. For example, Iraqi nationalists supported by Nasser had to face off against Iraqi communists supported by China. Furthermore, regarding Yugoslavia and India, Egypt's partners in the Non-Alignment Movement, China's opposing stance disturbed Nasser. The Sino-Indian War of 1962 put Sino-Egyptian relations to another test. Egypt attempted to mediate between the two sides; however, China rejected the Egyptian initiative as biased in favor of India. Although Sino-Egyptian relations flourished again in the 1960s when Premier Chou En-Lai visited Egypt in 1963, they soon suffered a new setback due to the Sino-Soviet conflict and the question of Soviet membership in the Afro-Asian movement. Following the June 1967 war, Sino-Egyptian relations revived, as China condemned the Israeli aggression and provided Egypt with economic assistance. See Khalili, 1970: 312–4.