Egypt the African Gate for China’s Transit

Reviewed by: Wafasa El-houseiny

Translated by: Yasmeen Ehab 

Egypt the African Gate for China’s Transit

To mark 72 years of establishing the PRC (People’s Republic of China), we retrace the key milestones of Chinese-Egyptian relation development. Egypt is considered to be the twenty-third country to recognize the PRC, additionally, it’s the first Arabian and African country to acknowledge that.

Leader Abdul-Nasser and the Chinese leader Zhou Enlai, the first president of the PRC, met in Bandung, Indonesia during the Asian-African Summit to find cooperation ways among them, in April 1955.

The diplomatic relations began between the two countries after they issued a joint statement from the Egyptian and Chinese governments. It was to establish diplomatic relations on the ambassador's scale between the two countries, in May 1956. This was a shifting point for China’s international relations. However, Egypt’s leading role on the Arab and African scale had a great impact on the international field. Consequently, the PRC’s recognition came after.

In July 1956, China upheld President Abdel-Nasser's decision in the nationalization of the Suez Canal. Furthermore, China highly condemned the tripartite aggression in Egypt. China people's support for Egypt was shown when one of the biggest protests in China burst out to denounce the aggression and endorse the Egyptian people’s fight.

Egypt further sought to mediate in the conflict resolution amid the Indian-Chinese war in 1962. President Abdul-Nasser was in constant touch with both Zhou Enlai and Lal Bahadur Shastri the Prime Minister of India.

Zhou Enlai visited Egypt as well in 1963. He and President Abdul-Nasser had a conversation where he gave a speech in which he said: “This is the first visit for the UAR (United Arab Republic) and the African continent. On behalf of the Chinese people, I want to give the best regards and the highest respect for the UAR’s people.

Relations and partnerships, however, continued between the two countries in various fields. These relations continued through exchanging high-level visits and student, professional, and cultural delegations and more.

China is the biggest trade partner with Egypt on the economic scale, as Egypt is considered to be the third-biggest trade partner for China in Africa. However, commercial exchange increased between the two countries from 12.2 million dollars in 1954 to 452 million dollars in 1955, then, it reached more than 10 million dollars in 2013. This means that it multiplied a thousand times during the last sixty years.