Ashraf AboArafe
Mr. Khaled El-Balshy, the Honorable Head of the Journalists Syndicate,
Dr. Nashwa Abdel Hamid, the Honorable Deputy of the State Information Service,
Mr. Ahmed Kamal, the Honorable Chairman of the Board of Directors and Editor-in-Chief of the Middle East News Agency,
Mr. Hussein El-Zanaty, the Honorable Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Syndicate,
Dear friends from the press,
Good morning! I am very pleased to come to the Journalists Syndicate at the invitation of Mr. Khaled El-Balshy and Mr. Hussein El-Zanaty, to exchange views with you. The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate has a long history and prestigious position, and includes a large number of excellent journalists, and publishes Egypt’s stories to the world, and exposes the world to the Egyptian people. Egyptian journalists have always paid attention to China-Egypt relations and China’s development, and published many positive and objective reports on China, and contributed greatly to deepening mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples, and making great contributions to strengthening bilateral relations. On this occasion, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the friends from the press for your great efforts, and extend my New Year greetings to you, wishing you a happy New Year and all the best!
Since I took office as Chinese Ambassador to Egypt, the most frequently asked question from Egyptian friends is how can China and Egypt achieve common development through mutual assistance? My answer is: work together to achieve mutual benefit and win-win, and build a China-Egypt community of shared future in the new era.
Building a community of shared future for mankind is a noble goal of major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics. In this context, President Xi Jinping said that mankind lives in a community of shared future, the countries of the world are not in more than 190 separate boats, but are on one ship and share one future, so the development of other countries should be viewed as an opportunity rather than a challenge, and others should be regarded as partners rather than adversaries, and the spirit of “solidarity with all”, cooperation and coordination, mutual benefit and win-win should be upheld as the mainstream of the times. Today, an increasing number of countries are joining the process of building a community with a shared future for mankind. Egypt was the first Arab country to include the goal of building a community with a shared future in the joint statement with China on bilateral relations. China and Egypt’s efforts to build a community with a shared future have a profound historical foundation, mature realistic conditions and promising future prospects.
First, the traditional China-Egypt friendship is getting stronger with time
I would like to show you some pictures.
The first picture is the meeting between Chairman Mao Zedong and the first Egyptian ambassador to China, Hassan Ragab. Egypt was the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic relations with New China, so China-Egypt relations represent the starting point of China-Arab relations and China-Africa relations. As Chairman Mao Zedong said to Ambassador Hassan Ragab: “Both China and Egypt have ancient civilizations, and the roots of bilateral relations are deep in history. China hopes to establish a new type of relationship and cooperation with Egypt. The cooperation between the two peaceful countries will undoubtedly make a great contribution to consolidating peace in Asia, Africa and even the world.”
The second picture is the demonstrations in support of Egypt’s efforts to nationalize the Suez Canal in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. In July 1956, the Egyptian people fought bravely under the leadership of President Gamal Abdel Nasser to nationalize the Suez Canal. China provided 20 million Swiss francs to the Egyptian government in cash aid, despite its extremely difficult economic conditions, and the Chinese people all over the country demonstrated for three consecutive days. Chairman Mao Zedong firmly supported the just struggle of the Egyptian people, and solemnly explained China’s position to the Egyptian side: “Egypt has done a very good thing, and all the Chinese people support you. Our assistance is unconditional, and we are ready to help you as much as we can as long as you need it.” For his part, President Gamal Abdel Nasser expressed his gratitude to China for its just campaigns, and said to the Chinese side: “Your support for our struggles for freedom and independence has strengthened our confidence in our just cause.” The third picture is the meeting between Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and President Gamal Abdel Nasser on the sidelines of the Bandung Conference in 1955. This historic meeting wrote a new page in China-Egypt relations. Zhou Enlai once said: “I have two lifelong friends, one is Prince Nordomsihanok and the other is President Gamal Abdel Nasser.” Next year marks the 70th anniversary of the Bandung Conference, and I believe that many countries in the Non-Aligned Movement will hold commemorative events in this regard, because this important conference opened up bright prospects for cooperation between developing countries in combating imperialism and colonialism and maintaining independence, and helped them achieve great victories. China and Egypt have been pioneers in the cause of developing countries’ solidarity for self-strengthening since then, and have become the core and leading force driving the renaissance of the countries of the Global South. I would like to emphasize that China-Egypt relations were established thanks to the efforts of political leaders of the previous generation. The strength of China-Egypt relations today is due to our common history and our sharing of good and bad times. Over the decades, no matter how the international situation changes, the two countries have always adhered to the original goal, and adhered to mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit, win-win and common development. No matter how the domestic circumstances change, the two countries have always viewed and developed bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, respected each other’s social system and development path, and are good friends, dear brothers and good partners who can be relied upon at all times.
Second, the Golden Decade of China-Egypt Relations in the New Era in March 2013, Xi Jinping took office as Chinese President, and in June 2014, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took office as Egyptian President, and China-Egypt relations entered a new era. In this context, President Xi Jinping said that China is willing to be a sincere friend and close partner of Egypt to achieve common development. For his part, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that China is the dearest friend of Egypt and African countries. The actions of the two countries matched the words. Time has passed quickly, this year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries and the year of China-Egypt partnership. The relations between the two countries have made a great leap forward and have become a model for the relations between China on the one hand and Arab, African, Islamic and developing countries on the other, based on solidarity, coordination, mutual benefit and win-win results. Some time ago, our embassy prepared a video reviewing the achievements of China-Egypt relations over the past 10 years. Therefore, I invite you to watch this video. This video was first broadcast at the reception held by the embassy on the occasion of the National Day, and was well received by all Egyptian circles. Many people asked the embassy to provide them with a copy of the video, which reflects the Egyptian friends’ pride in the Sino-Egyptian friendship like us. On the Sino-Egyptian relations in the new era, I would like to emphasize the following four points: 1. The communication between the two presidents constitutes the “guiding force”. In 2016, President Xi Jinping paid a historic state visit to Egypt. In the past ten years, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has visited China eight times, and the two presidents have met 13 times. The strategic guidance of the two presidents constitutes an inexhaustible driving force for bilateral relations, laying out broad plans for realizing Chinese-style modernization and harmonizing the Belt and Road Initiative, building the New Republic and Egypt’s Vision 2030. While China is working to build a strong country and realize national rejuvenation through Chinese-style modernization, Egypt is seeking to explore the modernization path that suits its national conditions. The two countries can cooperate with each other and leverage their complementary advantages to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. The deep cooperation between the two countries has become an integral part of Egypt’s development process. 2. Practical cooperation is the “driving force”. As you have seen in the video, Chinese companies have participated in the construction of many large-scale projects in Egypt. In fact, Sino-Egyptian cooperation has achieved several “firsts”: China has been Egypt’s largest trading partner for 12 consecutive years, Chinese companies in Egypt have built the tallest tower in Africa and the first electric railway in Africa, helped Egypt complete the largest electricity grid improvement project in its history, and made Egypt have the largest fiberglass production base, the largest vaccine storage center, the fastest broadband network in Africa, and the largest and most advanced cement production complex in Africa. Chinese technology has also helped Egypt in the field of space, as Egypt has become the first African country to have the ability to assemble and test satellites. Chinese companies have also brought advanced well-drilling technology to Egypt, and have helped Egypt drill more than 540 wells in the desert over eight years, turning the barren desert into farmland. Huawei’s ICT talent training project has successfully built 114 ICT institutes, training about 40,000 young Egyptians, making a significant contribution to economic development and raising the living standards of the Egyptian people. China has also carried out innovative cooperation with Egypt, implementing projects such as “Debt for Development Swap” and issuing Panda Bonds, helping Egypt achieve sustainable development. All these achievements make the Egyptian people feel the tangible benefits of Chinese-style modernization, and we hope to see more similar cooperation in the future. 3. People-to-people communication is the “centripetal force”. As you can see in the video, Egyptians are increasingly enthusiastic about studying Chinese culture and language. Chinese has been included in the Egyptian national curriculum, up to now, about 30 Egyptian universities have opened Chinese language colleges or majors, and more than 20 middle schools have taken Chinese as an elective subject. Egypt has also established 3 Confucius Institutes, 2 Confucius Classrooms and 2 Luban Workshops, and many Egyptian students have won first place in the international “Chinese Bridge” competition. This year, we held various cultural events in Egypt, such as the “Happy Spring Festival”, “Tea and the World”, the China-Egypt International Silk Road Cultural Heritage Forum, and the “Chinese Film Week”, which received attention and admiration from all Egyptian circles. The exhibition of ancient Egyptian antiquities was held at the Shanghai Museum in China, and the Chinese aerobatic team flew over the Pyramids, leaving a historical mark in the history of China-Egypt friendship. Today, the exchange of personnel between the two countries is increasing, with 32 direct flights between the two countries each week, and the number of Chinese tourists to Egypt is expected to reach 300,000 this year. 4. Cooperation in multilateral forums constitutes the “attractive force”. China-Egypt relations are a vivid picture of a new type of international relations, and have strategic significance that goes beyond the borders of the two countries. In this context, the two countries cooperate closely in the United Nations and other multilateral forums, in order to safeguard the common interests of developing countries; The leaders of the two countries have attended global events such as the Belt and Road Forum, the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, the BRICS Summit and the G20 Summit, especially since China has supported Egypt with all its might to join BRICS and its New Development Bank; the two countries have been working to find peaceful solutions to hot international and regional issues.
