Ahead of their meeting in Brussels last Wednesday,
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that "no options would be off the
table" at the meeting of his counterparts of the EU 28-member countries.
Presidents of the European council and European commission, Herman Van Rompuy
and Josà © Manuel Barroso, warned jointly on Sunday that further escalation could
have "unpredictable consequences." The European Union threatened that it will
"urgently review" its aid to Egypt,
but, like the U.S.
threat, it's just a warning that has yet to materialize.
The EU and its member states last year
pledged a combined 5 billion euros ($6.7 billion) in loans and aid for Egypt.
Russia , China on
Sidelines
Meanwhile, Russia
and China are waiting on the
sidelines to invest in what could evolve into a historical turning point in Egypt's
foreign relations.
The Kremlin maintained what a writer in
"Asia Times" described as a "stony silence," until August 19 when the foreign
ministry in a statement urged "dialogue" among "all" political players "without
any foreign interference," but the Egyptian embassy in Moscow
said that Cairo counts on Russia's assistance in "this trying
time, as it used to in the past."
In 2010 the volume of trade and
economic cooperation between the two countries amounted to $2.1 billion. The number of Russian tourists visiting Egypt in 2010 alone was estimated to be
2,855,723, making it the number one country in providing Egypt with
tourists.
Similarly China
remained relatively quiet. On August 15, the foreign ministry in a statement
said the country was following "closely the situation in Egypt," urged "maximum restraint"
and "dialogue" to "restore order and social stability."
Unofficially, Wang
Jilie, an academic with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a State Council
affiliated think tank, said that the Egyptian military "had no choice" but to
"control the situation," otherwise " the credibility of the interim government and the military
would be undermined."
In 2011, Sino-Egyptian trade rose
to US$8.8 billion, a 30 percent increase from 2010, according to Xinhua . Last year it rose to US$9.5 billion.
U.S. Regional Strategy Unraveling
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*Nicola Nasser is a veteran Arab journalist in Kuwait, Jordan, UAE and Palestine. He is based in Ramallah, West Bank of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.