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The president of China has finished a visit to Egypt, which is the most populous country in the Middle East and a traditional U.S. ally. NPR's Aya Batrawy reports on Beijing's influence there.
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AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Cairo to pomp and pageantry.
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BATRAWY: President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Egypt's first lady greeted Xi and his wife as they stepped off the plane to a red carpet, a military salute, a folkloric dance troupe and children wearing T-shirts with Xi's face printed on them. Xi made Egypt his only destination in the Mideast, emphasizing that Cairo remains a linchpin.
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SAMIR FARAG: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: That's retired Egyptian Major General Samir Farag. He says China sees Egypt as its gateway to Africa to locally manufacture goods and leverage the Suez Canal. But this relationship is evolving beyond traditional fields into artificial intelligence, technology sharing and defense.
Chinese J-16 fighter jets held military exercises with Egypt's French-made Rafale at air bases in Egypt last month. Cairo, though, still relies on over a billion dollars in U.S. military aid every year. But like other Mideast allies, it's broadening its defense ties, says Bilal Saab, a former adviser to the Pentagon who's now a senior managing director at TRENDS Research & Advisory.
BILAL SAAB: So now it's kind of like a portfolio approach to security, where there isn't exclusive reliance on the Americans, but multiple layers of deterrence and defense.
BATRAWY: He says that while countries in the region view the U.S. as an increasingly unpredictable partner...
SAAB: What they're doing here is trying to figure out ways to complement the U.S. security umbrella, not to replace it.
BATRAWY: The joint military exercises and Xi's visit come six months into a U.S.-Israeli war with Iran that's engulfed the region. Egypt's also facing instability on all its borders with Israel, Gaza, Sudan and Libya. But its most pressing concern seems to be further south in Ethiopia, which has built dams in the Nile River that Egypt says threatens its water lifeline.
After their meeting in Cairo, the Chinese and Egyptian leaders issued a joint statement. In it, China affirmed support for Egypt's Nile water rights and its, quote, "legitimate right to safeguard its water and food security," and Egypt reiterated its position that Taiwan is a, quote, "inalienable part" of Chinese territory.
Aya Batrawy, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF FUUBUTSUSHI'S "BOLTED ORANGE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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