The Chinese cook, Xi Jinping and a different vision for the Middle East
A hit Chinese movie and Xi’s visit to Cairo offer uncannily similar ideas of China’s place in the Middle East – and of how Beijing wants its power to be understood.
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Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (right) welcoming his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping (centre) at Cairo International Airport on Sept 1.
PHOTO: REUTERS
In China’s biggest film of August, Once Upon A Time In The Middle East, a debt-ridden Chinese cook travels to a fictitious Middle Eastern country in 2002 to make some money, only to find his restaurant engulfed by war after American forces invade, overthrow the government and back the opposition to form a transitional administration.
The cook, Xu Fu, is on neither side and wants no part in anyone’s grand political project. But when war comes, his restaurant inadvertently becomes a refuge for the children caught in it.
