BEIJING — China and Egypt “share related visions and methods in defending their very own pursuits,” Chinese language chief Xi Jinping mentioned Saturday in a gathering with Egypt’s authoritarian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
The Egyptian chief was considered one of at the very least 4 heads of state who met Xi after attending the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, searching for nearer ties with China whereas shunning Western criticism of their heavy-handed rule.
Xi “hailed enhanced political belief” between the nations, citing cooperation in combating the pandemic. Their complete strategic partnership is a mannequin of “China-Arab, China-Africa and China-developing world solidarity,” Xi mentioned, in accordance with CGTN, the worldwide arm of state broadcaster CCTV.
“China and Egypt share related visions and methods in defending their very own pursuits, pursuing widespread growth, enhancing their folks’s well-being and selling equity and justice on this planet, because the world is present process adjustments unseen in a century,” Xi mentioned.
The perimeters will “proceed to assist one another on points associated to core pursuits and main considerations,” he mentioned.
Since taking energy, el-Sissi has overseen a widespread crackdown on dissent and opposition, jailing tens of hundreds and drawing worldwide criticism.
In 2017, the federal government arrested dozens of Uyghur college students finding out at Cairo’s Al-Azhar College and deported them to China amid Beijing’s ruthless crackdown on Muslim minorities.
Egypt was the recipient of a number of free shipments of Chinese language-made Sinopharm coronavirus vaccines and China says it helped arrange Africa’s first vaccine manufacturing within the nation.
El-Sissi is considered one of greater than 30 world leaders and heads of main worldwide organizations who flew to Beijing for Friday’s opening of the Winter Olympic Video games.
Not having left China since 2019 amid the pandemic, Xi is holding a sequence conferences on the sidelines of the Video games with leaders whose largely undemocratic nations are anxious to strengthen relations with the rising superpower.
By round noon Saturday, Xi had additionally met with heads of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Serbia. The leaders of Argentina, Ecuador, Qatar, Poland and are additionally amongst these on the town.
The conferences observe a mini-summit between Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that underscored the rising alignment of their authoritarian nations’ positions as they push again towards the liberal world order dominated by the U.S.
The 2 leaders oversaw the signing of greater than 20 agreements protecting commerce, power and different fields and issued a joint assertion during which China backed Russia in opposing NATO’s growth, a transfer seen as signifying Xi’s rising notion of himself as a worldwide chief.
“President Putin emphasised that the strategic significance of Russia-China relations is unprecedented,” Chinese language Vice Overseas Minister Le Yucheng mentioned in a commentary on the assembly posted to the ministry’s web site.
“Russia firmly helps China’s legit place of safeguarding its core pursuits,” Le mentioned. “Throughout the talks, the 2 heads of state reiterated that any try to hurt the pursuits of China and Russia and divide China-Russia relations is doomed to failure.”
Whereas China formally eschews all navy alliances, the edges have held a sequence of joint struggle video games, together with naval drills and patrols by long-range bombers over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. In August, Russian troops for the primary time deployed to Chinese language territory for joint maneuvers.
Putin has additionally famous that Russia has been sharing extremely delicate navy applied sciences with China that helped considerably bolster its protection functionality.
All of the leaders of the 5 former Soviet republics of Central Asia got here to Beijing, highlighting the area’s more and more shut ties to its jap neighbor. Commerce has booming between China and the area, a key supply of gasoline and different sources for the Chinese language financial system.
In his assembly Saturday with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Xi mentioned China is “dependable in its assist for Kazakhstan’s safeguarding of its personal independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
China issued sturdy backing for Tokayev’s authorities throughout lethal avenue protests final month, although in contrast to Russia, it didn’t ship troops to assist restore order.
“China is able to deepen safety cooperation with Kazakhstan,” Xi mentioned, in accordance with CGTN.
Tokayev “thanked China for supporting Kazakhstan’s efforts to reject exterior interference and preserve its personal safety and stability,” CGTN mentioned.
Xi’s conferences with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic have been equally upbeat, in accordance with the official Xinhua Information Company.
In his assembly with Vucic, who has been criticized for his more and more authoritarian rule, Xi hailed the “ironclad friendship” between China and Serbia, saying the nations take pleasure in “high-level political mutual belief.”
The U.S. and several other different Western democracies declined to ship dignitaries to Beijing underneath a diplomatic boycott to protest China’s human rights report and insurance policies focusing on Muslim minorities within the far west Xinjiang area.
Others have stayed away because of COVID-19 restrictions, making for a really totally different visitor record from that of the 2008 Beijing Summer season Video games, when most main world leaders have been in attendance.
“With some exceptions, the high-level attendees at this yr’s Video games make up a rogue’s gallery of authoritarian leaders and people in thrall to Chinese language money,” mentioned Michael Mazza, a China specialist with the American Enterprise Institute.