Egypt and China take united stance on Nile water, Palestine and Taiwan after leaders meet in Cairo

Egypt and China expressed unanimity on key regional issues, including the need to protect Cairo’s access to Nile waters and to consolidate the ceasefire in Gaza, following talks on Wednesday between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and his visiting Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

The two countries sealed a broad package of economic, industrial and diplomatic agreements on the first full day of Mr Xi’s state visit, signing five formal deals and more than 20 additional co-operation documents ranging from the digital economy and semiconductors to shipbuilding and the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

After receiving Mr Xi at the airport on Tuesday night, Mr El Sisi welcomed the Chinese leader and his wife at the Ittihadiya Presidential Palace with a full state ceremony that included a mounted honour guard, a 21-gun salute and the national anthems of both countries.

Extended talks between the two delegations preceded the signing of agreements, which was followed by an official lunch hosted by the Egyptian President.

Mr Xi’s visit comes in the 70th year of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Egypt became the first Arab and African state to recognise the People’s Republic of China in 1956.

In a joint statement issued after the talks, Cairo and Beijing described the Palestinian cause as “the central issue in the Middle East” and called for the immediate consolidation of the Gaza ceasefire, unrestricted humanitarian access and the return of the Palestinian Authority to the strip “at the earliest opportunity”.

They rejected any plans to displace Palestinians from their land “under any pretext or label” and expressed concern at what they called dangerous Israeli escalation in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, citing settler violence, land confiscation and settlement construction. They also defended the mandate of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

In language Egyptian officials will regard as one of the visit’s most valuable takeaways, China recognised the Nile’s “vital importance to Egypt as its main lifeline” and Cairo’s “legitimate right to protect its water and food security”.

Both leaders called on all Nile Basin states to abide by international law, “including the obligation not to cause harm”, a formulation that echoes Egypt’s long-running legal argument against Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Tensions between the two Nile Basin countries have recently been high.

Egypt and China also called for respect for Sudan‘s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and pledged to work jointly to end the war there and launch a Sudanese-led political process. On the Red Sea, they said governance and security in the waterway were “the primary responsibility of the littoral states”.

Egypt affirmed its rejection of interference in China’s internal affairs and its continued commitment to the one-China principle, recognising that Taiwan is an inseparable part of the territory of the People’s Republic of China. It also supported China’s position on issues concerning its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and supported the achievement of China’s reunification, the joint statement said.

The five formal agreements signed at the Ittihadiya Palace covered a priority list for aligning Egypt’s Vision 2030 development plan with China’s Belt and Road Initiative; broader economic and technical co-operation; industrial and supply-chain co-operation; information technology; and an agreement between the Suez Canal Economic Zone and China’s commerce ministry.

The other co-operation documents signed on the margins of the visit also covered the digital economy, finance, telecoms, media and technology transfer.

The joint statement announced plans for deeper co-operation on electric vehicle manufacture, shipbuilding, solar panel and wind turbine production, seawater desalination, semiconductors, cloud computing, data centres, critical minerals supply chains, remote sensing and artificial intelligence.

Mr El Sisi and Mr Xi also committed to expanding tourism, higher education exchanges and opening more space for Egyptian exports in the Chinese market.