On the Sino-Egyptian Geo-Relations in the Perspective of the Belt and Road--Based on Event Data Analysis

Egypt has an important geostrategic position as it is located in the three circles of Arab world, African continent and Islamic world simultaneously. Egypt is the key region of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), with leading and radiating effects on Africa and West Asia. The study on Sino-Egyptian geo-relations is of great significance for promoting the construction of the BRI. This paper attempted to explore the evolution process and driving mechanism of Sino-Egyptian geo-relations during 2000-2021 based on event data analysis to explore the path of future development. The results indicate that: (1) the bilateral geo-relations between China and Egypt show an overall fluctuating upward trend, i.e., the geo-relations were closer in the later part of the study period than in the earlier period; the highest peaks of Sino-Egyptian geo-relations in all four time periods were generated by the influence of the same type of event, i.e., the exchange of visits between the top state leaders of China and Egypt. (2) geopolitics, geo-economy and geo-culture are the driving forces and intrinsic mechanisms of the evolution of Sino-Egyptian geo-relations. Among them, geopolitics is the pioneering element, geo-economy is the significant factor, and geo-culture is the important complement.