China-Egypt cooperation Illustration: Xia Qing/GT

One of the consequential achievements of the recent visit to Egypt by President Xi Jinping has been an important four-point proposal that, if translated from diplomatic language into practical mechanisms, could offer China and Egypt a new platform for working together on one of the Middle East's oldest problems: how to build security without repeatedly returning to war.

During his talks with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo on September 2, Xi called for a new Middle East security architecture built around four principles: unleashing internal drivers, advancing an integrated approach, cementing development foundation, and enhancing international coordination.

The timing matters.

The Middle East is no longer simply a collection of separate crises. Gaza, the Palestinian question, Iran, the Gulf, the Red Sea, Syria, Libya and Sudan increasingly overlap through energy, trade, migration and security. The result is a regional system in which a crisis in one location can rapidly affect shipping, commodity prices and political calculations elsewhere.

For Egypt, this is not an abstract geopolitical concern. The Suez Canal remains one of the world's most important arteries for international commerce. According to the Suez Canal Authority, about 12 percent of global seaborne trade has historically transited the canal. For China, whose economy depends heavily on secure global supply chains and maritime routes, the security of Egypt and the wider Red Sea region has very real direct economic significance. 

This creates an unusual convergence between Cairo and Beijing. The first point of Xi's proposal - unleashing internal drivers - could become the basis for a more structured Egypt-China dialogue.

Egypt possesses something China cannot easily reproduce: decades of diplomatic, security and political experience across the Arab world, together with relationships with Israel, the Palestinian leadership, Gulf states, African countries and major international powers. China, meanwhile, increasingly possesses the economic weight and diplomatic reach to complement that role. Its successful mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran in 2023 demonstrated that Beijing can sometimes open diplomatic doors that traditional Western mediation has struggled to unlock.

An integrated approach is particularly important for the Middle East. The Palestinian issue remains at the core of the Middle East question and should never be overlooked or marginalized, as Xi explicitly emphasized. Egypt has historically played a frontline role in Palestinian reconciliation, cease-fire efforts and humanitarian diplomacy. China can add diplomatic weight through its permanent seat on the UN Security Council and its broader relationships across the Global South.

President Xi's third point may ultimately be the most economically consequential: cementing development foundation.

This is where the China-Egypt relationship has an advantage over many conventional security partnerships. Bilateral relations are not limited to defense or diplomacy. They increasingly include manufacturing, energy, digital technology, artificial intelligence, transport and infrastructure.

The two countries are celebrating 70 years of diplomatic relations in 2026, having established ties in 1956 when Egypt became the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. Bilateral trade has exceeded $17 billion, while Chinese investment has become particularly visible in Egypt's Suez Canal Economic Zone.

That economic relationship can be converted into a broader security asset. The logic is simple: A young population without jobs, reliable electricity, water or economic opportunity is not merely a development challenge. It is also a security challenge.

The final element of Xi's proposal calls for stronger international coordination. Here Egypt can become China's natural diplomatic bridge.

Cairo is simultaneously an Arab, African and Mediterranean power and a member of BRICS. China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and one of the world's principal economic powers. Their coordination can therefore extend beyond bilateral relations into the UN, BRICS, the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum and China-Africa mechanisms.

China and Egypt already possess the political relationship, economic connectivity and diplomatic trust necessary to experiment with a more ambitious model. 

More than 20 cooperation documents were signed during Xi's recent visit, covering areas including the digital economy, science and technology, education and transportation.

The next step should be to add security cooperation to that economic architecture - not primarily through weapons, but through diplomacy, development, maritime security, counterterrorism, food and energy resilience, and crisis prevention.

Seventy years after Egypt and China established diplomatic relations, the relationship has moved far beyond the symbolism of two ancient civilizations meeting as modern states.

The opportunity now is larger.

Egypt can provide regional understanding and diplomatic access. China can provide economic scale, political reach and a willingness to engage across competing regional blocs. If the two countries can turn Xi's four-point proposal into institutions, projects and measurable initiatives, their partnership could become more than a bilateral success story. The Middle East has needed for decades security built not only through deterrence, but through dialogue, development and regional ownership.

The author is director & founder, Asia Center for Studies & Translation, Egypt, and a non-resident senior research fellow at the Vienna International Institute for Middle East Studies, Austria. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn