China and Egypt on Sunday concluded their first joint aerial exercise – a troubling example of cooperation between America’s primary adversary and the recipient of $1.5 billion in annual American assistance.
The China-Egypt “Eagles of Civilization 2025” air force exercise, which began on April 19, involved Chinese combat aircraft, early-warning radar planes, helicopter gunships, and airborne tankers. Egyptian officials were coy about whether the American F-16 fighters, AH-64 Apache helicopters, and Patriot missile systems in their inventory were involved in any of the training missions.
“The Egyptian Air Force commander, the Chinese Air Force chief of staff, the Chinese ambassador to Cairo, and senior military officials from both sides attended. During the training, multi-role fighter jets from both sides conducted joint sorties to simulate precision attacks, asset defense, and aerial refueling drills,” said the Jerusalem Post, citing Egyptian media reports.
China said the joint training was intended to “enhance technical and tactical capabilities of the two air forces and deepen substantive cooperation between the Chinese and Egyptian militaries.”
“As Egypt looks beyond its traditional U.S. partnership, a new era of cooperation is taking flight over Cairo’s skies,” gushed Chinese state media, accompanied by photos of Chinese jet fighters streaking through the sky over the pyramids.
Some observers thought it also looked like a sales pitch for Chinese military equipment to the Egyptian government. China showed off the J-10, its premier multi-role jet fighter, plus the KJ-500, its top AWACS early-warning radar plane, and its brand-new YY-20A midair refueling tanker. The Egyptians are rumored to have expressed interest in acquiring the J-10.
The Egyptian air force was seen flying its Russian-made MiG-29M fighters during the exercise, which just happens to be a fighter India relies upon, so the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) had an opportunity to train against the plane it would likely face in a conflict with its great regional rival.
“We’ve never seen a crisis like this. Egypt is essentially flouting us right now and looking to China, looking for more stable, long-term partners after nearly four and a half decades of stability in terms of the peace deal under Camp David,” said Joe Rubin, a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush.
At the very least, Egypt appears interested in signaling to Washington that it has alternative strategic partners at a time when Cairo is unhappy with American support for Israel during the Gaza war.
Having sent this message, Egypt might well use its flirtation with China to push for more advanced hardware from the United States. Egypt’s authoritarian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi may also want to make Washington more hesitant to freeze a portion of Egypt’s foreign aid due to human rights concerns, as it has done several times in recent years.
“Cairo’s hedging tactics are not new. This has been a slow and steady effort, and this exercise marks a clear escalation. For Cairo, they want to diversify their patrons,” said Foundation for Defense of Democracies researcher Mariam Wahba.
“Washington has long conditioned its aid to Egypt on human rights and democratization efforts. While the U.S. has routinely issued waivers on these conditions and allowed the aid to flow, Cairo does not want to remain beholden to Washington,” Wahba said.
“This exercise should certainly sound the alarm in Washington,” she advised.
China has dramatically increased weapons sales to the Middle East and Africa over the past decade, with a commensurate increase in regional political influence. The Chinese have lately been taking advantage of Russia’s distraction with Ukraine to peddle their wares as upgrades for aging Russian equipment.
“Clearly, China is trying to grow influence with countries in the region, who also have well-established ties to the U.S., so that they are viewed more positively. This is linked to a desire to be seen as an alternative military equipment supplier to Egypt and other countries in the region,” said retired Gen. Joseph Votel, a fellow at the Middle East Institute.
The United States regards Egypt as a vital regional partner for counterterrorism and highly values Egypt’s landmark 1979 peace treaty with Israel. Egypt was second only to Israel as a recipient of American military assistance until massive support for Ukraine began after the Russian invasion in 2022. Egypt and Israel are the only two countries that were exempted from President Donald Trump’s freeze on foreign aid early in his second term.
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