China News Service, Cairo, September 30. Title: Izzat Saad: China studies in the Arab world should not be limited to “understanding China”
China News Service reporter Ma Xiuxiu
“The future goal of China studies in Egypt and the Arab world should not be limited to understanding China.”
On September 29, local time, at the "World Dialogue on China Studies·Arab Countries Special" event held in Cairo, Egypt, Ezzat Saad ElSayed, director of the Egyptian Foreign Affairs Council, described his expectations for China studies in this way.
He proposed that the Arab world should "jointly produce correct knowledge on global issues with China" and further extend the Arab-China dialogue from bilateral relations to issues such as development, governance, civilization and the future of mankind.
Saad is not a Sinologist in the traditional sense. Born in 1950, he has a doctorate in international law. He served as Egypt's ambassador to Indonesia, assistant minister of Asian affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and later ambassador to Russia, and was later responsible for American affairs. He served as governor of Luxor Province from 2011 to 2013, and later served as head of Egypt's Foreign Affairs Council.
After traveling between different regions and relations between major powers for a long time, how did this senior diplomat gradually bring China into the core observation field?
From the AIIB to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, “many reasons can be cited”
"China occupies a very important position in Egypt's diplomatic relations." In an interview with reporters during the Saad Conference, China said that China is Egypt's largest trading partner in terms of a single country.
According to data from the Ministry of Commerce of China, China-Egypt trade volume reached US$20.79 billion in 2025, a record high; in the first seven months of 2026, China-Egypt bilateral trade volume reached US$13.75 billion, a year-on-year increase of 23.2%. China has remained Egypt's largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years.
When talking about China's role in the global South, Saad said in an interview: "I can list many, many reasons (to explain) why we say this."
Then he listed a series of cooperation mechanisms.
He first mentioned the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Saad said that the institution established by China's initiative is "very important to our countries" and that developing countries, including Egypt, can obtain development financing through this mechanism.
He went on to mention the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” initiative. "Under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, many projects have been realized in Egypt," Saad said. "Egypt - as you know - is part of the Maritime Silk Road and is connected to it through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal."
"China's investment in the Suez Canal Economic Zone is also helping Egypt build an important industrial base." Saad said.
Saad then turned the topic to BRICS cooperation. He said that China has always supported the expansion of BRICS cooperation. In 2017, Egyptian President Sisi was invited to attend the meeting in the form of "BRICS+"; in 2024, Egypt officially became a member of the BRICS.
“Today, the BRICS is seen as a very important platform for countries in the Global South,” Saad said. He also specifically mentioned that the initial members of the BRICS did not always agree on the expansion of membership, "but in the end the expansion was achieved."
At this point, he added: "There is another one that is as important as the BRICS, which is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization." Egypt will officially become a dialogue partner of the SCO in 2022.
An observation line that lasts for more than ten years
Saad has been paying attention to Asia and China for a long time.
On October 14, 2015, Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper published an exclusive interview with Saad. At that time, he called Asia the "continent of the 21st century" and believed that it was necessary for Egypt to further develop cooperation with Asian countries. He also said that Egypt's "eastward" does not mean ignoring Europe and the United States, but to achieve a diplomatic balance.
Regarding China, he has proposed that China's newly established financing mechanisms and development initiatives such as the "One Belt, One Road" should be used, and specifically mentioned the significance of the Suez Canal axis as an important node of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
In August 2020, Saad published a signed article in the Egyptian media, systematically discussing China's economic, political and security roles in the Middle East. He pointed out that China's economic and trade interests in the region continue to expand, and the importance of the Middle East waterways and regional stability to the "Belt and Road" initiative has further increased. He hopes that China will assume a role in regional political and security affairs in the future that is more commensurate with its economic strength.
Today, six years later, in his speech at the opening ceremony of the event, Saad proposed that the comprehensive strategic partnership between Egypt and China has gone beyond traditional trade exchanges, and cooperation topics have continued to expand, rising to "the integration of development visions and the convergence of positions on international issues such as peace, security, and global governance."
He pointed out that China has a prominent position in the international system and has become the "leader" of countries in the global South, playing an active and important role in the Arab region, especially West Asia.
Nowadays, Saad’s judgment on China has richer realistic footnotes.
The challenge is to “understand China’s ideological system”
In his speech, Saad said that China studies in Egypt are experiencing "accelerated institutionalization development." Chinese language research, which used to be concentrated on a small number of professionals, has now gradually formed a system, and academic exchanges and joint research projects have also increased.
Information released by the Chinese Embassy in Egypt in 2026 shows that Chinese has been included in the Egyptian national education system, and there are currently 36 Chinese departments in Egyptian universities.
Saad further suggested: "The contemporary challenge may be to break through language and translation barriers and understand China's ideological system."
Saad listed areas including Chinese political philosophy (Neo-Confucianism), decision-making mechanisms, Chinese political economy, and military security strategy. He believes that the Arab world needs dedicated research centers focused on these issues.
Saad stressed that China and the Arab world "need to understand each other more directly." He believes that by strengthening China studies in the Arab world, "we will be able to go back to the original materials" because currently "much of our understanding of China comes from Western sources."
He pointed out that this understanding is two-way. Egypt must break stereotypes and unilateral interpretations of China, and at the same time explain to China the Arab perspective on international and regional issues.
Regarding how to promote China studies in the next step, Saad put forward specific ideas: establishing more professional research institutions to study Chinese politics, economy and thought; and building a professional Arab knowledge base. He also proposed that the annual "Egypt-China Civilization Forum" could be launched to make it an institutional platform for academic and literary dialogue.
"I believe that Egypt, with its research capabilities and its comprehensive strategic partnership with China, can become a regional center for Chinese studies," Saad said.
