Egypt-China relations refers to the diplomatic relationship between China and Egypt. China–Egypt relations were established on May 30, 1956.

History

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...

Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah sent a delegation to

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

China led by Domiyat. The Mamluk Sultan of Egypt ordered Jidda to treat Chinese traders honorably upon their arrival in the early 15th century. Yusuf Ma Dexin visited Egypt in the 1840s. The

Republic of China (1912–49) Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of Chi ...

sent Hui Muslims like Muhammad Ma Jian and other Hui Muslim students to study at Al-Azhar in Egypt. The Fuad Muslim Library in China was named after

Fuad I of Egypt Fuad I ( ''Fu’ād al-Awwal''; 26 March 1868 – 28 April 1936) was the Sultan and later King of Egypt and the Sudan. The ninth ruler of Egypt and Sudan from the Muhammad Ali dynasty, he became Sultan in 1917, succeeding his elder brother Hu ...

by the Chinese Muslim Ma Songting. Imam Wang Jingzhai studied at Al-Azhar University in Egypt along with several other Chinese Muslim students, the first Chinese students in modern times to study in the Middle East. Wang recalled his experience teaching at madrassas in the provinces of Henan (Yu), Hebei (Ji), and Shandong (Lu) which were outside of the traditional stronghold of Muslim education in northwest China, and where the living conditions were poorer and the students had a much tougher time than the northwestern students. In 1931 China sent five students to study at Al-Azhar in Egypt, among them was Muhammad Ma Jian and they were the first Chinese to study at Al-Azhar. Na Zhong, a descendant of Nasr al-Din (Yunnan) was another one of the students sent to Al-Azhar in 1931, along with Zhang Ziren, Ma Jian, and Lin Zhongming. A False

Hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

(), a saying of the prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

, spread to China, which says "Loving your country is part of loving the Faith" ( zh, s=爱护祖国是属于信仰的一部份, t=愛護祖國是屬於信仰的一部份, p=àihù zǔguó shì shǔyú xìnyǎng de yī bùfèn, first=t) ( '). It is not a real Hadith but was a popular slogan among Arabic speakers in Middle East in the 19th-20th centuries. It spread to China via Hui Muslim students like Muhammad Ma Jian who studied at Al-Azhar in Egypt. Hui Muslim General

Ma Bufang Ma Bufang (1903 – 31 July 1975) (, Xiao'erjing: ) was a prominent Chinese Muslim Ma clique warlord in China during the Republican era, ruling the province of Qinghai. His rank was lieutenant-general. Life Ma Bufang and his older brother ...

and his retinue including

Ma Chengxiang Ma Chengxiang (1914 – 15 April 1991) (, Xiao'erjing: ) was a Chinese Muslim general in the National Revolutionary Army. He was the son of Ma Qing (馬慶) and nephew of generals Ma Buqing and Ma Bufang. A daughter of Ma Buqing was married t ...

moved to Egypt before being appointed as ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Chinese Premier

Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai ( zh, s=周恩来, p=Zhōu Ēnlái, w=Chou1 Ên1-lai2; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China from September 1954 unti ...

first met Egyptian President

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

at the

Asian-African Conference The first large-scale Asian–African or Afro–Asian Conference (), also known as the Bandung Conference, was a meeting of Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, which took place on 18–24 April 1955 in Bandung, Wes ...

Bandung Bandung is the capital city of the West Java province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, the city is the List of Indonesian cities by population, fourth-most populous city and fourth largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabay ...

. In May 1956, Nasser defied U.S. pressure and displeasure by recognizing

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Zhou visited Egypt three times during his tenure. During the Suez War, on 3 November 1956, China supported Egypt's bid to take back control of the Suez Canal, 250,000 Chinese reportedly registered to serve as "volunteers" in Egypt. In the aftermath of the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...

, China provided Egypt with economic aid and food aid (100.000 tons of cereals) and military equipment. Egyptian government maintained cordial relations with the China even after Nasser's successor,

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until Assassination of Anwar Sadat, his assassination by fundame ...

, broke with the USSR in favor of a partnership with the U.S.,

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011 and the 41st Prime Minister of Egypt, prime minister from 1981 to ...

first visited China in 1976 as vice president, during which he was received by

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

and provision of spare parts for Egypt's Soviet-supplied Tupolev bombers and MIG fighters. Mubarak_and_Mao_Zedong

In 1971 Egypt supported China's bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations and it voted in favour to admit Beijing and replace Taipei. In 2012, Egyptian president

Mohamed Morsi Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa Al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012B-6 bomber and F-6 fighter to Cairo and received several

MiG-23 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is a third-generation jet fighter, alongside similar Soviet aircra ...

from Egypt.

Egyptian navy The Egyptian Navy (), also known as the Egyptian Naval Forces, is the maritime branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces. It is the largest navy in the Middle East as well as Africa, and is the twelfth largest (by the number of vessels) navy in the w ...

received ships in the 1980s from China including submarines and frigates. China has also helped Egypt develop its own missile systems. The K-8E is an Egyptian variant of the Chinese

Hongdu JL-8 The Hongdu JL-8 (Nanchang JL-8), also known as the Karakorum-8 or K-8 for short, is a two-seat intermediate jet trainer and light attack aircraft designed by China Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation and Pakistan Aeronautical Complex. ...

, exported as the Karakorum-8 (or K-8) to (among others)

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

and

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. The K-8E's manufacture at the

Arab Organization for Industrialization The Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) () is a company established in 1975 by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar to supervise the collective development of the Arab defense industry. Following a gradual deterioration ...

(AOI) Aircraft Factory began in 2000, under an agreement between the AOI and

CATIC China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC, ) is a Chinese state-owned defense company with a core business in aviation products and technology. It is the exclusive representative of the Aviation Industry Corporation of Chi ...

, the Chinese state-owned aerospace manufacturer, to produce a total of 60 K-8s over five years. The contract, valued at US$347.4 million, was signed in 1999 in connection with the

state visit A state visit is a formal visit by the head of state, head of a sovereign state, sovereign country (or Governor-general, representative of the head of a sovereign country) to another sovereign country, at the invitation of the head of state (or ...

Chinese president The president of China, officially the president of the People's Republic of China, is the state representative of the People's Republic of China. On its own, it is a ceremonial office and has no real power in China's political system. While ...

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as Chairman of the Central Mil ...

that year. Initially, most of the parts were manufactured in China and the aircraft were assembled in Egypt, but by the end of the programme the manufacture was to be carried out entirely at the AOI Aircraft Factory. It is located in

Helwan Helwan ( ', , ) is a suburban district in the Southern Area of Cairo, Egypt. The area of Helwan witnessed prehistoric, ancient Egyptian, Roman and Muslim era activity. More recently it was designated as a city until as late as the 1960s, befor ...

. In May 2012 six Egyptian drones of ASN-209 was built in collaboration with a Chinese defence manufacturer during the first phase and are fully operational under the

Egyptian armed forces The Egyptian Armed Forces () are the military forces of the Egypt, Arab Republic of Egypt. The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces directs (a) Egyptian Army forces, (b) the Egyptian Navy, (c) Egyptian Air Force and (d) Egyptian Air Defense Forces. ...

according to Hamdy Weheba, China and Egypt held first joint naval drills in June 2015. In 2018, the

Egyptian air force The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) () is the aviation branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces that is responsible for all airborne defence missions and operates all military aircraft, including those used in support of the Egyptian Army, Egyptian Navy ...

revealed they were operating Chinese-made

CAIG Wing Loong The Chengdu GJ-1, also known as Wing Loong 1, is a Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group in the People's Republic of China. Intended for use as a surveillance and ae ...

drones. On 19 April 2025, Egypt and China held their first joint drill near the Israeli border. Additional joint air force exercises - namely fighter jet exercises - were conducted in May 2025.

Economic relations

Belt and Road Initiative participant map

Bilateral trade reached about $4 billion

U.S. dollars The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

in 2007, up from $3.19b in 2006. In 2010, it was worth US$7.0 billion. In 2011 Egypt was the 5th largest trading partner of China in Africa and in the first 8 months of 2012 it was the 4th. From 2000 to 2012, there are approximately 39 Chinese official development finance projects identified in Egypt through various media reports. These projects range from jointly constructing an industrial park in the Northwest Suez Economic Zone beginning June 1, 2000, to the construction of a Chinese language school in Cairo in 2002 through a US$4 million grant from the Chinese government. In 2016, Egyptian president Elsisi made a visit to China and signed a number of deals there including

New Administrative Capital of Egypt New Administrative Capital (NAC) () is a New Urban Communities Authority, new urban community east of New Cairo in Cairo Governorate, Egypt and a satellite city of Cairo. As of May 2023, 14 ministries and government entities have been relocated ...

. In November 2020, Egypt and China signed a protocol of cooperation to utilise and market a land plot owned by the Suez Canal Authority in Ain Sokhna. The China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone increased Chinese investment in, and industrial collaboration with, Egypt. China aligns its

Belt and Road Initiative The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI or B&R), known in China as the One Belt One Road and sometimes referred to as the New Silk Road, is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the government of China in 2013 to invest in more t ...

economic cooperation in Egypt with the points of emphasis in Egypt's Vision 2030 national development plan. China's BRI projects with Egypt therefore focus on developing labor-intensive manufacturing and traditional infrastructure in Egypt. Chinese tourists are one of the major source of income for Egypt's tourism. Egypt's tourism sector had significant growth in 2024, with a reported 65% rise in visitors from China, as stated by the Egyptian Tourism Authority. It is anticipated that more than 300,000 Chinese tourists travel to the country in 2024.

Space cooperation

China provided Egypt's space program with grants in 2016 ($23 million), 2018 ($45 million), and 2019 ($72 million). China also cooperates with the

Egyptian Space Agency The Egyptian Space Agency (EgSA; ) is an Egyptian space program founded on 17 January 2018, succeeding the National Authority for Remote Sensing & Space Sciences (NARSS) as the premier space authority in Egypt. The EgSA headquarters are housed i ...

in developing the Assembly and Integration Centre in Egypt's Space City.

Human rights

In July 2019, UN ambassadors of 37 countries, including Egypt, have signed a joint letter to the

UNHRC The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. The ...

defending China's treatment of

Uyghurs The Uyghurs,. alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central Asia and East Asia. The Uyghurs are recognized as the ti ...

and other Muslim minority groups in the

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

region.

Western media Western media is the mass media of the Western world. During the Cold War, Western media contrasted with Soviet media. Western media has gradually expanded into developing countries (often, non-Western countries) around the world. History T ...

outlets reported that Egypt had aided in deporting Uyghurs to China; however, in July 2017, Al-Azhar, Egypt's leading Islamic institution, denied that any Uyghurs had been arrested from within its campus or other buildings belonging to the organization itself. In June 2020, Egypt was one of 53 countries that backed a statement supporting the

Hong Kong national security law Hong Kong national security legislation may refer to one of the following laws/bills: Laws in force * Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2020 national law of C ...

at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Education

Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

has a long history of friendly cooperation with

Cairo University Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...

. As early as 1986, the two universities signed an inter-school exchange agreement, after which they have completed the renewal of the Inter-school cooperation Agreement in year 2000. On 29 December 2007, the two sides signed an implementary agreement of establishing Confucius Institute through cooperation, and held a grand opening ceremony for the new institute, which had the honor of the attendance of Mr. Wu Chunhua Chinese Ambassador in Egypt, Mr. Ali Abd el-Rahman Yousef President of Cairo University, Mr. Zhang Guoyou Vice President of Peking University and other leaders. On 18 March 2008, the Confucius Institute in Cairo University---the first Confucius Institute established both in Egypt and North Africa—started its recruitment and Chinese language courses.

References

External links

Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Arab Republic of Egypt
{{DEFAULTSORT:China-Egypt relations

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Bilateral relations of Egypt