A decade after his last visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Cairo this week for a three-day state visit with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi — a moment that speaks less to ceremony than to the quiet redistribution of influence in a region long shaped by American power. As the United States remains militarily entangled in its war with Iran, China has been methodically cultivating ties with U.S. partners through investment, infrastructure, and diplomatic mediation, offering an alternative model of engagement that asks little and builds steadily. Egypt, guardian of the Suez Ca