There is no doubt that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Egypt at this critical and sensitive moment sends a powerful signal about Egypt’s pivotal role in the Middle East and the world.

Egypt has always maintained strong ties with major powers, striking a strategic and objective balance and earning trust and respect from many. Egypt’s diplomatic and political space in its foreign relations is wide. Looking at Egypt’s relationship with a country like China, it is marked by political realism: Egypt was the first Arab and African country to establish sustained diplomatic relations with China, a relationship that has lasted for more than 70 years as China grew into the world’s largest economic player. The same applies to Egypt’s relations with most countries, including the United States. Trade volume between Egypt and China has reached about $20 billion.

President Xi enjoys special affection and esteem among Egyptians across social groups, and China likewise respects and values the Egyptian state and people greatly. A notable example is the appointment of Dr. Essam Sharaf, Egypt’s former prime minister, as one of ten advisory figures for China’s Belt and Road project—an expression of Chinese confidence in and appreciation for Egypt, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and the Egyptian people.

This visit comes at a time when the Arab region and the Middle East are suffering major upheavals—whether in the Strait of Hormuz and tensions with Iran, in Syria, in Gaza, in Sudan, in southern Lebanon, or, finally, in Libya—underscoring that Egypt holds international, regional, and Arab weight that no one can credibly claim to replace.

What worried me most about this visit is the attempt by some Israeli newspapers to sow fear about the consequences of Egypt-China cooperation. They have been promoting the idea that the visit will include signing an agreement to build an AI data center in Egypt using Chinese technology. Israeli outlets have repeated the narrative that Egypt will use artificial intelligence for military and security technologies, which, they claim, would upset an electronic advantage Israel imagines it has and monopolizes. They are trying to erect barriers to prevent an agreement—an agreement that Egypt itself has not announced. Some insiders even say the United States has begun offering Egypt an AI data center using American chips instead of Chinese ones for use in security, military, and economic technologies.

The panic expressed in Israeli media centers on the fear that an agreement between Cairo and Beijing—possibly through Huawei Technologies—would lead to building specialized AI data centers in Egypt as the start of a digital cloud covering security and technological sectors, to be implemented within a year to a year and a half. That would boost AI’s role in Egypt’s technological economy, especially after Cairo rose to 48th globally in governance of digital technologies.

Does the reader know that global investments in artificial intelligence surpassed $1 trillion in 2026, with the United States accounting for roughly half?

Egypt will not be deterred or distracted by this kind of media warfare from Israel, particularly since Netanyahu and the Israeli far right were enraged after the recent Egyptian–Chinese military exercises.

This is President Xi’s first visit to Cairo since 2016, when the two countries celebrated 60 years of diplomatic relations. This visit’s timing is particularly sensitive given reports that the giant Chinese private company Huawei will cooperate with Egypt in advanced technologies—especially artificial intelligence—and its application across many sectors, notably the economy and scientific and knowledge research, which has become the language of global communication and rapprochement among countries and peoples today.

I affirm that the claims circulated by Israeli media about Egypt, the Egyptian armed forces, and the Egyptian people allying with China to use AI for military and security purposes are not true. This Israeli alarmism, however, shows that the Egyptian state is moving with awareness, wisdom, and on the right path—carefully studying its options and choosing the country’s and the people’s interests, free from media leaks or funded attempts to discredit the Chinese president’s visit to Egypt.

Egypt will not be sidetracked by petty acts or the maneuvers of small actors; it will choose what achieves security and safety for the Egyptian people and what secures Egyptian and Arab national security, away from campaigns of lies, deception, and suspicion.

Welcome to President Xi in the Cairo of Al-Muizz. Welcome to the head of state who chose Egypt as the first stop on his regional tour, in recognition of Egypt’s name, its leadership, and its great people. When ancient civilizations like Egypt and China meet, they create glory—civilizations that span thousands of years, not newly born states trying to invent a civilization for themselves. History affirms this, and history neither lies nor flatters.