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Tuesday, Aug 28, 2012 8:15 AM UTC

China, wary of Arab Spring, hosts Egypt’s Morsi

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BEIJING (AP) — China is hosting Egypt’s newly elected president despite its uneasiness with the Arab Spring revolution that helped bring him to power, while the new leader seeks to shore up his country’s flagging economy.

President Mohammed Morsi, an Islamist who took office in June as Egypt’s first freely elected civilian president, was to be welcomed Tuesday at the Great Hall of the People at the start of a two-day trip.

It is Morsi’s first state visit outside the Middle East and Africa since becoming president, underscoring Beijing’s importance as one of five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and as a vital source of trade and investment. The China visit is also seen as part of a reorientation of Egyptian foreign policy away from a heavy focus on Washington.

“The Egyptian government could count on China as a reliable partner to rebuild its post-upheaval nation,” China’s official Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary Monday.

Morsi was preceded to Beijing by a delegation of 80 Egyptian business leaders who planned to meet on investment projects with 200 of their Chinese counterparts on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The trip is also a chance for the countries to rebuild their relations in the wake of the popular uprising that last year drove longtime President Hosni Mubarack from power, paving the way for full democracy and Morsi’s election.

China’s authoritarian one-party government was decidedly cool toward that movement, criticizing what Chinese state media derided as thuggish “street democracy.” Beijing also bitterly condemned the NATO air campaign that brought down dictator Moammar Gadhafi in neighboring Libya and continues to join with Russia in blocking any U.N. Security Council action to force Syrian leader President Bashar Assad from power.

While largely a bystander in Middle Eastern politics, China’s economic importance to the region has ballooned amid Europe’s economic woes and the sluggish U.S. recovery. Egypt’s economy has been battered by the global economic slowdown and 18 months of political instability, and Morsi is under heavy pressure to attract tourists and investment to put Egyptians back to work.

Revenues from tourism — one of Egypt’s biggest money makers and employers — fell 30 percent to $9 billion in 2011 and foreign investment has largely dried up. That has forced the country to seek billions of dollars in assistance from the International Monetary Fund and raised the possibility of a cut in subsidies that keep commodities like fuel and bread cheap for a population of about 82 million, 40 percent of whom live near or below the poverty line.

Chinese tourists are increasingly traveling further afield to more exotic locales such as Egypt, while Chinese companies have invested in Egyptian manufacturing and infrastructure, having poured an estimated $500 million into the country. Chinese companies also import Egyptian oil products and raw materials such as cotton, while exporting automobiles, electronics and other finished goods.

Bilateral trade amounted to a relatively anemic $5.5 billion in 2009 prior to the upheaval that ousted Mubarack, and is skewed heavily in China’s favor.

Morsi leaves Beijing on Thursday to attend the world gathering of self-described nonaligned nations in Iran, the first visit to the country by an Egyptian head of state since relations between them were severed in 1979.

Christopher Bodeen

More Christopher Bodeen.

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  • The protests take on a festive element as police forces move out of the park and square. Wearing a gas mask, this young man dances to traditional Turkish music in front of Taksim Square’s Ataturk Monument.

  • In Gezi Park since March 31st, this protester, originally caught off-guard by the Government’s teargas and water cannons, went out and bought a Russian army mask from WWII, preparing for what was to come.

  • This rambunctious boy seems to be enjoying the chaos. After taking this picture he threw a stone at the already destroyed building in the background.

  • Forming a line, the police face off directly with protesters in Taksim Square. After a while, they retreated and there was a general cheer – a back-and-forth dance that has been common since the beginning of this protest.

  • An elderly woman in Gezi Park reads the news. The tent community occupying the park was violently destroyed on June 16th.

  • Many different groups had set up booths to promote their cause in Taksim Square and Gezi Park. Standing in front of one, this man waves his flag while posing with conviction.

  • Many home-remedies are used to minimize the effects of tear gas. This woman has put a milky solution on her face, removing her mask after the tear gas dissipated. Before sunrise, the police came again for another round of teargasing.

  • People capitalize on the uprising -- selling flags, beer, gas masks, sky lanterns and spray paint to name just a few of the popular items.

  • On Monday morning, June 11, the police execute a strong offensive. Many plain-clothed police officers, like the ones seen here, clash with protesters in the side streets away from the main stand-off in Taksim.

  • The authorities seem to be most aggressive in the night, pushing protesters away from the square and park. After being teargassed this young woman catches her breath with other protesters on Siraselviler Street.

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