Organised crime crackdown in Egypt benefitting China: Report
New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) According to Dr. Nadia Helmy’s report published in Modern Diplomacy, Chinese intelligence and security agencies view the crackdown on influence thuggery and the arrest of Sabry Nakhnoukh by Egyptian security forces in June 2026 as a significant step in ensuring the stability of Chinese investments.
This reportedly suggests a fundamental evolution in Beijing’s foreign policy.
Rather than strictly adhering to its historical policy of “non-interference”, China is proactively engaging with local security frameworks to protect its geopolitical and economic interests.
“The aim is to lower business costs and mitigate the risks of external economic blackmail from rival powers seeking to exploit these parallel security entities to restrict and threaten Chinese operations, activities, and investments, as well as the safety of Chinese citizens and workers. Ultimately, this is seen as crucial for ensuring a direct investment environment controlled by the official Egyptian state,” Nadia Helmy mentions.
China considers disrupting independent networks of influence to strengthen the nation’s investment atmosphere in Cairo. This is because Beijing believes that continued activity of such networks exposes Chinese supply projects, such as the Belt and Road Initiative, to the risk of foreign blackmail.
“For these reasons, Chinese intelligence agencies support limiting foreign interference in Egyptian affairs by preventing the creation of parallel entities or indirect security spheres of influence.”
The West Asia conflict and the resultant blockage of the Strait of Hormuz reflected the urgent need to protect the economy, global energy flows and secure global and regional supply chains.
Therefore, as the report in Modern Diplomacy encoded, China has intensified its investment efforts in alternative and pivotal countries, such as Egypt, through its official security and military apparatus, rather than through intermediaries like the networks of Sabry Nakhnoukh and his partners in Cairo.
Based on its analysis, the Modern Diplomacy report noted that China prefers to rely on official state institutions to ensure the “stability of its investments” within the Belt and Road Initiative and to secure supply lines and its comprehensive strategic partnership with Egypt, rather than dealing with “unofficial power centres or parallel networks of influence”.
–IANS
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