Xi’s Egypt visit tests Cairo’s balancing act

Xi’s Egypt visit tests Cairo’s balancing act Submitted by Eli Siegel-Bernstein on Thu, 09/03/2026 - 10:57 Chinese leader's visit produced new agreements and deeper Cairo-Beijing ties, but a Huawei bid for Egypt's AI infrastructure hangs over its relationship with Washington Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Chinese President Xi Jinping tour the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, 2 September 2026 (Egyptian Presidency/Handout via Reuters) Off Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi held talks in Cairo on Wednesday, closing out Xi’s first visit to Egypt in a decade with a series of signed agreements, memoranda of understanding, and a joint statement on bilateral ties. The visit, timed to the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, coincided with the joint Egyptian-Chinese “Eagles of Civilisation” air exercise, launched 22 August to strengthen military ties between the two countries’ air forces. It also followed a report that Chinese tech giant Huawei had bid to supply Egypt with more than 2,000 artificial intelligence (AI) computing chips for a data centre.