Egypt-China relations refers to the diplomatic relationship between China and Egypt.
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 Egypt |  China |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic mission | |
| Embassy of Egypt, Beijing | Embassy of China, Cairo |
China-Egypt relations were established on May 30, 1956. [1] They have maintained friendly relations for thousands of years, and being the oldest nations in the world.
Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah sent a delegation to Song dynasty China led by Domiyat.
The Mamluk Sultan of Egypt ordered Jidda to treat Chinese traders honorably upon their arrival in the early 15th century. [2]
Yusuf Ma Dexin visited Egypt in the 1840s.
The Republic of China (1912–49) sent Hui Muslims like Muhammad Ma Jian and other Hui Muslim students to study at Al-Azhar in Egypt. [3] The Fuad Muslim Library in China was named after Fuad I of Egypt by the Chinese Muslim Ma Songting. [4]
Imam Wang Jingzhai studied at Al-Azhar University in Egypt along with several other Chinese Muslim students, the first Chinese students in modern times to study in the Middle East. [5] Wang recalled his experience teaching at madrassas in the provinces of Henan (Yu), Hebei (Ji), and Shandong (Lu) which were outside of the traditional stronghold of Muslim education in northwest China, and where the living conditions were poorer and the students had a much tougher time than the northwestern students. [6] In 1931 China sent five students to study at Al-Azhar in Egypt, among them was Muhammad Ma Jian and they were the first Chinese to study at Al-Azhar. [7] [8] [9] [10] Na Zhong, a descendant of Nasr al-Din (Yunnan) was another one of the students sent to Al-Azhar in 1931, along with Zhang Ziren, Ma Jian, and Lin Zhongming. [11]
A False Hadith(圣训), a saying of the prophet Muhammad, spread to China, which says "Loving your country is part of loving the Faith" (traditional Chinese :愛護祖國是屬於信仰的一部份; simplified Chinese :爱护祖国是属于信仰的一部份; pinyin :àihù zǔguó shì shǔyú xìnyǎng de yī bùfèn) (Arabic : حب الوطن من الایمانḥubb al-waṭan min al-imān). It is not a real Hadith but was a popular slogan among Arabic speakers in Middle East in the 19th-20th centuries. It spread to China via Hui Muslim students like Muhammad Ma Jian who studied at Al-Azhar in Egypt. [12]
Hui Muslim General Ma Bufang and his retinue including Ma Chengxiang moved to Egypt before being appointed as ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai first met Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser at the Asian-African Conference in Bandung. In May 1956, Nasser defied U.S. pressure and displeasure by recognizing People's Republic of China. Zhou visited Egypt three times during his tenure. [13] During the Suez War, on 3 November 1956, China supported Egypt's bid to take back control of the Suez Canal, 250,000 Chinese reportedly registered to serve as "volunteers" in Egypt. [14]
In the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War, China provided Egypt with economic aid and food aid (100.000 tons of cereals) and military equipment. [15] Egyptian government maintained cordial relations with the China even after Nasser's successor, Anwar Sadat, broke with the USSR in favor of a partnership with the U.S., Hosni Mubarak first visited China in 1976 as vice president, during which he was received by Mao Zedong and provision of spare parts for Egypt's Soviet-supplied Tupolev bombers and MIG fighters. [16] [17] [18]
In 1971 Egypt supported China's bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations and it voted in favour to admit Beijing and replace Taipei.
In 2012, Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi chose China for his first official visit outside the Middle East. [19]
1970–80s, China delivered B-6 bomber and F-6 fighter to Cairo and received several MiG-23 from Egypt. [18] [20] [21] Egyptian navy received ships in the 1980s from China including submarines and frigates. [22] China has also helped Egypt develop its own missile systems. [23] [24]
The K-8E is an Egyptian variant of the Chinese Hongdu JL-8, exported as the Karakorum-8 (or K-8) to (among others) Pakistan, Zambia and Myanmar. The K-8E's manufacture at the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) Aircraft Factory began in 2000, under an agreement between the AOI and CATIC, the Chinese state-owned aerospace manufacturer, to produce a total of 60 K-8s over five years. The contract, valued at US$347.4 million, was signed in 1999 in connection with the state visit by Chinese president Jiang Zemin that year. [25] Initially, most of the parts were manufactured in China and the aircraft were assembled in Egypt, but by the end of the programme the manufacture was to be carried out entirely at the AOI Aircraft Factory. [26] It is located in Helwan. [27] In May 2012 six Egyptian drones of ASN-209 was built in collaboration with a Chinese defence manufacturer during the first phase and are fully operational under the Egyptian armed forces according to Hamdy Weheba, [28] [29]
China and Egypt held first joint naval drills in June 2015. [22] [30]
In 2018, the Egyptian air force revealed they were operating Chinese-made CAIG Wing Loong drones. [31]
Bilateral trade reached about $4 billion U.S. dollars in 2007, up from $3.19b in 2006. [32] In 2010, it was worth US$7.0 billion. [33] In 2011 Egypt was the 5th largest trading partner of China in Africa and in the first 8 months of 2012 it was the 4th. [34]
From 2000 to 2012, there are approximately 39 Chinese official development finance projects identified in Egypt through various media reports. [35] [ page needed ] These projects range from jointly constructing an industrial park in the Northwest Suez Economic Zone beginning June 1, 2000, [36] to the construction of a Chinese language school in Cairo in 2002 through a US$4 million grant from the Chinese government. [37] In 2016, Egyptian president Elsisi made a visit to China and signed a number of deals there including New Administrative Capital of Egypt. [38]
In November 2020, Egypt and China signed a protocol of cooperation to utilise and market a land plot owned by the Suez Canal Authority in Ain Sokhna. [39]
China provided Egypt's space program with grants in 2016 ($23 million), 2018 ($45 million), and 2019 ($72 million). [1] : 302 China also cooperates with the Egyptian Space Agency in developing the Assembly and Integration Centre in Egypt's Space City. [1] : 303
In July 2019, UN ambassadors of 37 countries, including Egypt, have signed a joint letter to the UNHRC defending China's treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang region. [40] Western media outlets reported that Egypt had aided in deporting Uyghurs to China; [41] however, in July 2017, Al-Azhar, Egypt's leading Islamic institution, denied that any Uyghurs had been arrested from within its campus or other buildings belonging to the organization itself. [42]
In June 2020, Egypt was one of 53 countries that backed a statement supporting the Hong Kong national security law at the United Nations. [43]
Peking University has a long history of friendly cooperation with Cairo University. As early as 1986, the two universities signed an inter-school exchange agreement, after which they have completed the renewal of the Inter-school cooperation Agreement in year 2000. On 29 December 2007, the two sides signed an implementary agreement of establishing Confucius Institute through cooperation, and held a grand opening ceremony for the new institute, which had the honor of the attendance of Mr. Wu Chunhua Chinese Ambassador in Egypt, Mr. Ali Abd el-Rahman Yousef President of Cairo University, Mr. Zhang Guoyou Vice President of Peking University and other leaders. On 18 March 2008, the Confucius Institute in Cairo University---the first Confucius Institute established both in Egypt and North Africa—started its recruitment and Chinese language courses. [44]
The Hui people are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the northwestern provinces and in the Zhongyuan region. According to the 2010 census, China is home to approximately 10.5 million Hui people. Outside China, the 170,000 Dungan people of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, the Panthays in Myanmar, and many of the Chin Haws in Thailand are also considered part of the Hui ethnicity.
The Al-Azhar University is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is known as one of the most prestigious universities for Islamic learning. In addition to higher education, Al-Azhar oversees a national network of schools with approximately two million students. As of 1996, over 4,000 teaching institutes in Egypt were affiliated with the university.
Islam has been practiced in China since the 7th century CE. There are an estimated 17–25 million Muslims in China, less than 2 percent of the total population. Though Hui Muslims are the most numerous group, the greatest concentration of Muslims reside in northwestern China's Xinjiang autonomous region, which contains a significant Uyghur population. Lesser yet significant populations reside in the regions of Ningxia, Gansu and Qinghai. Of China's 55 officially recognized minority peoples, ten of these groups are predominantly Sunni Muslim.
Muḥammad ʿAbduh was an Egyptian Islamic scholar, judge, and Grand Mufti of Egypt. He was a central figure of the Arab Nahḍa and Islamic Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Al-Manār, was an Islamic magazine, written in Arabic, and was founded, published and edited by Rashid Rida from 1898 until his death in 1935 in Cairo, Egypt. The magazine championed the superiority of Islamic religious system over other ideologies and was noteworthy for its campaigns for the restoration of a pan-Islamic Caliphate.
Muhammad Ma Jian was a Hui-Chinese Islamic scholar and translator, known for translating the Qur'an into Chinese and stressing compatibility between Marxism and Islam.
The history of education in China began with the birth of the Chinese civilization. Nobles often set up educational establishments for their offspring. Establishment of the imperial examinations was instrumental in the transition from an aristocratic to a meritocratic government. Education was also seen as a symbol of power; the educated often earned significantly greater incomes.
After the fall of the Qing dynasty following the Xinhai Revolution (1911-1912), Sun Yat-sen, who led the new Republic of China (1912–1949), immediately proclaimed that the country belonged equally to the Han, Hui (Muslim), Meng (Mongol), and Tsang (Tibetan) peoples. When the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, Chinese Muslims suffered political repression along with all other religious groups in China, especially during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976).
Egypt and the United States formally began relations in 1922 after Egypt gained nominal independence from the United Kingdom. Relations between both countries have largely been dictated by regional issues in the Middle East such as the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and Counterterrorism. But also domestic issues in Egypt regarding the country's human rights record and American support for the regimes of Hosni Mubarak and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi for which the United States had come under controversy for in the aftermath of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, and with many dissidents of the current regime describing Sisi's rule as tyrannical.
Sino–Arab relations, have extended historically back to the Rashidun Caliphate, with important trade routes, and good diplomatic relations. Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC), modern Sino-Arab relations have gotten significantly closer, with the China–Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) helping the People's Republic of China and the Arab nations to establish a new partnership in an era of the growing globalization. As a result, close economic, political and military relations between the two sides have been maintained. From 2018, the relations became significantly warmer, with the PRC and the Arab countries exchanging state visits, establishing cooperation mechanism and providing support to each other.
Egypt–Israel relations are foreign relations between Egypt and Israel. The state of war between both countries which dated back to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War culminated in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and was followed by the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace treaty a year after the Camp David Accords, mediated by U.S. president Jimmy Carter. Full diplomatic relations were established on January 26, 1980, and the formal exchange of ambassadors took place one month later, on February 26, 1980, with Eliyahu Ben-Elissar serving as the first Israeli Ambassador to Egypt, and Saad Mortada as the first Egyptian Ambassador to Israel. Egypt has an embassy in Tel Aviv and a consulate in Eilat. Israel has an embassy in Cairo and a consulate in Alexandria. Their shared border has two official crossings, one at Taba and one at Nitzana. The crossing at Nitzana is for commercial and tourist traffic only. The two countries' borders also meet at the shoreline of the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea.
China–Syria relations are foreign relations between China and Syria. The nationalist government of China recognized Syria in 1946. Diplomatic relations between both countries were established on August 1, 1956. China has an embassy in Damascus and Syria has an embassy in Beijing, the two governments generally maintaining a friendly political and economic relationship for the last several decades, which continues to endure despite the Syrian civil war.
Chinese people in Egypt form one of the smaller groups of overseas Chinese; however, they are a very diverse community with a history reaching back for over a century.
Muhibbal-Din al-Khatib was a Syrian Islamic scholar of Salafism. He was the maternal uncle of Ali al-Tantawi and was the author of the "hate filled" anti-Shia pamphlet entitled al-Khutut al-Arida. He has been described as "one of the most influential anti-Shiite polemicists of the twentieth century."
Egypt–France relations, also known as Egyptian–French relations, are the bilateral relations between Egypt and France. Relations between the two countries have spanned centuries, from the Middle Ages to the present day. Following the French occupation of Egypt (1798-1801), a strong French presence has remained in Egypt. Egyptian influence is also evident in France, in monuments such as the Luxor Obelisk in Paris. The relationship is also marked by conflicts like the Algerian War (1954-1962) and the Suez Crisis (1956). As of 2020, relations are strong and consist of shared cultural activities such as the France-Egypt Cultural Year (2019), tourism, diplomatic missions, trade, and a close political relationship. Institutions like the Institut d’Égypte, the French Institute in Egypt and the French University of Egypt (UFE) also aid in promoting cultural exchange between Egypt and France.
Hu Songshan (1880–1955), a Hui, was born in 1880, in Tongxin County, Ningxia, China. His Muslim name in Arabic was Sa'd al-Din. Although he was born Sufi and turned Wahhabi, he changed his views and turned his back on Wahhabism after a Hajj to Mecca and later became an important imam, scripturalist, and leader of the Yihewani Muslim sect in China. He was influential and played an important role in Chinese Islam in this position as he propagated reformist doctrines in Ningxia in his later life. Hu also played a role in rallying Muslims against the Japanese invasion of China.
Tang Kesan was a Chinese Muslim. In Xikang province during the Sino-Tibetan War Tang Kesan represented the Kuomintang.
Ma Linyi was a Chinese Muslim born in Hunan province during the Qing Dynasty.
Rafīq Bey ibn Mahmūd al-ʿAzm was a Syrian intellectual, author, and politician. 'Azm served as the president of the Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization and was a key figure in the intellectual formation of Arabism.
No Uyghur Muslim students have been arrested inside Al-Azhar campus or from inside any buildings associated with Al-Azhar, the Muslim Sunni institution stated in a Friday statement.
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