BEIJING: China and Egypt “share similar visions and strategies in defending their own interests,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping said on Saturday in a meeting with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
The Egyptian leader was one of at least four heads of state who met Xi after attending the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, seeking closer ties with China.
Xi “hailed enhanced political trust” between the countries, citing cooperation in fighting the pandemic. Their comprehensive strategic partnership is a model of “China-Arab, China-Africa and China-developing world solidarity,” Xi said, according to CGTN, the international arm of state broadcaster CCTV.
“China and Egypt share similar visions and strategies in defending their own interests, pursuing common development, enhancing their people’s well-being and promoting fairness and justice in the world, as the world is undergoing changes unseen in a century,” Xi said.
The sides will “continue to support each other on issues related to core interests and major concerns,” he said.
Egypt was the recipient of several free shipments of Chinese-made Sinopharm coronavirus vaccines and China says it helped set up Africa’s first vaccine production in the country.
El-Sisi is one of more than 30 world leaders and heads of major international organizations who flew to Beijing for Friday’s opening of the Winter Olympic Games.
Not having left China since 2019 amid the pandemic, Xi is holding a series meetings on the sidelines of the games with leaders whose countries are anxious to strengthen relations with the rising superpower.
By around midday Saturday, Xi had also met with heads of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Serbia. The leaders of Argentina, Ecuador, Qatar, Poland and are also among those in town.
The meetings follow a mini-summit between Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that underscored the growing alignment of their authoritarian countries’ positions as they push back against the liberal world order dominated by the US.
The two leaders oversaw the signing of more than 20 agreements covering trade, energy and other fields and issued a joint statement in which China backed Russia in opposing NATO’s expansion.
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