Political, diplomatic and academic circles in both China and Egypt are anticipating the return of the US President “Donald Trump’s administration” to the White House, and the extent of his ability to challenge the “deep state and its institutions” in Washington to include the Muslim Brotherhood on the US list of “foreign terrorist groups”. With Chinese think tanks analyzing this step, the extent of the ability of the Egyptian political system led by President “Abdel Fattah El-Sisi” to exert maximum pressure on the new US administration led by Trump, in light of the close personal relations that brought them together during his previous presidency, with in-depth Chinese analyses of the repercussions of this step by classifying the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group on the US list, considering that including the Muslim Brotherhood on the list of terrorist groups may complicate Washington’s relationship with Turkey, its ally in the NATO military alliance. The terrorist Muslim Brotherhood has ties to the Turkish Justice and Development Party, led by Turkish President “Ragab Tayyip Erdogan”, especially with the flight of many members of the banned Brotherhood to Turkey after it was banned in Egypt.
The Chinese authorities are taking a strict stance against the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, after the group’s members provoked Beijing by hosting and organizing a conference in the Turkish city of Istanbul in June 2022, under the slogan: “Supporting the East Turkestan Cause”. This matter angered and angered the Chinese. Taking into account the extent of the fear of the Chinese authorities in the first place and the leaders of the ruling Communist Party in China immediately after the Muslim Brotherhood came to power in Egypt and the Arab Spring revolution countries, the Chinese authorities then declared a state of emergency within Chinese territory, following the arrival of terrorists from the banned Muslim Brotherhood to power in Egypt and the region.
From here we understand and analyze the reasons for China’s support for the Egyptian revolution on June 30, 2013, in confronting the terrorists of the banned Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, especially with the masses of the Egyptian people coming out to confront it, as China, through its influence in the UN Security Council and its use of the veto right, prevented the American and Western desire at that time to internationalize this file related to the Egyptian popular overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood’s rule in Egypt, and China opposed discussing it within the Security Council and the United Nations, considering it a purely Egyptian internal affair that concerns the Egyptians and their people in confronting the terrorism of the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
China was also among the first countries in the world to recognize the success of the June 30 Revolution in Egypt and the coming of President “El-Sisi” to power. China even sent the Chinese Minister of Commerce and Industry, Miao Wei, to participate in the inauguration ceremony of President “El-Sisi” as President of the Arab Republic of Egypt in 2014 after the Egyptian people succeeded in getting rid of the rule of the terrorists of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned in Egypt and China. Perhaps what is new in the matter for the Chinese, which I draw attention to internationally and regionally, and which I convey in turn to Egypt and all the countries of the Middle East and the Gulf and to the international community as a whole, in my capacity as an expert specializing in Chinese internal political affairs and the policies of the ruling Communist Party in China, is the Chinese launching of an innovative Chinese research and analytical version to measure the index of (the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood at the international level) on a continuous, periodic basis by the Chinese, which is the first of its kind in the world, and which aims to measure the extent of the influence of the Brotherhood at various levels in various geographical regions, whether inside China or among Muslim minorities in China, such as the Uyghur Muslims in the “Xinjiang” province and around the world. The Muslim Brotherhood Influence Index, in its new innovative Chinese version, measures all levels of influence and penetration of the Muslim Brotherhood within Egypt, China itself, and all Middle Eastern countries, through the Chinese focusing on measuring (5 main indicators related to the Muslim Brotherhood), which are: the influence of the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood internationally and regionally in the Middle East and Gulf countries, political influence, economic influence, media influence, and societal influence of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Chinese side also launched (the project to measure the public opinion trends in cyberspace and on social media platforms towards the Muslim Brotherhood), which periodically monitors the interactions of Egyptian, Arab, Chinese, and international public opinion for the year 2023 globally towards the Muslim Brotherhood on various social media sites, whether inside or outside China, to determine the extent of the danger and penetration of this group according to the analysis of the Chinese and their political, intelligence, and diplomatic circles affiliated with the ruling Communist Party in China.
According to the Chinese, if the efforts of Egyptian President “Abdel Fattah El-Sisi” succeed in urging the new US administration led by Trump to classify the Muslim Brotherhood on the list of banned terrorist groups within US circles, this step may also carry – according to the Chinese analyses themselves – a message to regional actors in the Middle East that the United States will not tolerate any deceptive tactics that allies or supporters of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group, such as Turkey and Qatar, may resort to, or any other excuses they may resort to. Turkey, for example, has included the (Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the Gulen Movement) on the list of terrorist organizations inside Turkey, and Turkey has exerted maximum pressure on the US administration and the international community itself to do so. However, at the same time, Turkey continues to support Hamas and the banned terrorist Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and a number of countries in the Middle East and the Arabian Gulf. This means that listing the Muslim Brotherhood as a banned terrorist group means exerting further pressure on both Turkey and Qatar, that the United States of America does not accept such double standards in dealing with terrorist entities and organizations such as the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood and its branches spread around the world, especially those who fled to Turkey and Qatar after the success of the June 30 revolution in Egypt, and its success in expelling and removing the terrorist organization of the Muslim Brotherhood from power in Egypt, and legally classifying it as a terrorist group or entity according to Egyptian law and its articles on combating terrorism. What caught my attention personally and analytically is the extent to which a number of democratic countries, regimes and governments friendly to Washington are aware of the danger of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and the danger of Turkish support and Qatari funding for it within their territories. The Bavarian Interior Ministry in Germany hinted that it no longer rules out placing the “Turkish Islamic Union” (DITIB) under the supervision of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, after representatives of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood participated in a DITIB symposium organized in the German city of Cologne. This led to the Turkish Islamic Union being subjected to the supervision of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution or the German domestic intelligence. The German authorities considered that what is particularly alarming is the invitation of the (Turkish DITIB Union) within German territory itself to representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood to (attend an essentially illegal symposium organized in the German city of Cologne), with the German domestic intelligence service considering that the Muslim Brotherhood and the “DITIB Union” allied with it adopt illegal positions that cannot be reconciled with the requirements of the German constitution, so the German state and its intelligence service must be vigilant in this regard, with regard to the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood and the “Turkish DITIB Union” on its territory. Here we can understand and analyze that the Cologne symposium in Germany, jointly organized by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Turkish DITIB Union allied with it, shows that Turkish President “Erdogan” continues to extend his arm in Europe, which is rejected by European political and intelligence circles, regarding the political influence from abroad on Muslims living in Germany, as Turkey and its ally Qatar do.
As an expert in Chinese politics and the policies of the ruling Communist Party in China, I can follow the state of anticipation and waiting in Chinese political, diplomatic and academic circles regarding the extent of the success of Egyptian pressure on the US administration to classify the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, and the Chinese side’s analysis of the previous “Trump” period, and “Trump” actually consulted during his previous presidency in 2019 with his national security team and regional leaders who share the same concern, headed by Egyptian President “El-Sisi”, so Chinese analyses and Egyptian decision-making circles are now anticipating the extent of President “Trump’s ability” to include the terrorist group of the Muslim Brotherhood on the terrorist list and the possibility of this matter taking its course within the internal circles of American decision-making. Intellectual, academic, diplomatic and political circles in China analyze the extent of the danger of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and all Middle Eastern countries, considering that the Muslim Brotherhood is not a conservative Muslim party, but rather a group that offends Islam. The Chinese believe that if the United States deliberately classifies this group as a terrorist organization, it will send a clear message that it is strictly opposed to the toxic ideology of Islamism, not the Islamic religion. In this context, the Chinese analyze that classifying the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group by the American side will contribute to limiting the cancerous spread of this banned terrorist group among the American Muslim community in the face of the danger of fear of Islam and Muslims, or what is known as “Islamophobia”, by clarifying to the American public that Islam is not the enemy, but rather the enemy is those terrorist groups and organizations with narrow self-interests such as the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood, with its extensions and entanglements within all sectors of American society and the world. Here, Chinese circles see that including the Muslim Brotherhood on the list of terrorist groups will allow American officials to impose sanctions on any person or group associated with it, which is the same thing that Egyptian President “Abdel Fattah El-Sisi” demanded after Trump hosted President “El-Sisi” during his previous presidency, in light of the Egyptian security campaigns to stop the threat of terrorism in Sinai and all regions of Egypt, led by the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood and a number of other terrorist groups. Egypt had classified the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group following the Egyptian popular revolution on June 30, 2013, which was supported by the Egyptian army and the Egyptian military establishment, and which overthrew the leader of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood “Mohamed Morsi”, who belongs to the group, in 2013.
During his meeting with “Trump” in Washington on April 9, 2019, Egyptian President “El-Sisi” explicitly requested that the Muslim Brotherhood be included on the terrorist list, with US President “Donald Trump” praising the significant progress with Egypt in combating terrorism, and Trump considering Egypt to be one of the largest strategic partners of the United States in the Middle East, especially in the field of combating terrorism. According to Trump’s published public statements.
Chinese circles are studying all the legal bases for this classification of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group in US decision-making circles, as according to US law, the designation of any group as a foreign terrorist organization must meet (three criteria) that the Chinese see as available in the Muslim Brotherhood as a banned terrorist group, which are: the entity must be a foreign organization, it must be engaged in terrorist activity or have the determination and ability to engage in terrorist activity, and the terrorist activity must threaten the security of US citizens or US national security itself. This is what the Chinese see as available and applicable to the terrorists of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Middle East.
Based on our comprehensive analysis referred to, we understand the extent of the Chinese authorities’ fear of the extensions and entanglements of the banned Muslim Brotherhood on its territory, in Egypt and in all the countries of the Middle East. From here we understand the reasons for Chinese support for the efforts of Egyptian President “Abdel Fattah El-Sisi” in exerting maximum pressure on the new US administration led by “Trump” to classify the Muslim Brotherhood as a banned terrorist group, according to the US list.
