Why Egypt wants China's Sphinx replica beheaded
Egypt’s war on a Chinese replica of the Giza Sphinx has resumed after theme park owners replaced the forbidden statue's head two years after agreeing to remove it.
Egypt’s Great Sphinx of Giza is the most instantly recognizable statue associated with Egypt, and Cairo is determined that it remain so. So when a full-size replica of the famous monument reappeared in China's northern Hebei province earlier this month, Egypt's response was swift and stern.
The Sphinx has been an issue of diplomatic demarches and complaints to UNESCO, the cultural arm of the United Nations, since a Chinese theme park in Shijiazhuang put it up in 2014. The Chinese officials said that it had been constructed for a dramatic production and that it would be demolished after the filming was done.
After two years of intensive appeals to both the Chinese government and UNESCO, Cairo managed to get the Chinese authorities to remove the head from the giant statue. But another two years later, the controversy has returned. Last month, a Chinese news site reported that workers at the theme park had been seen reattaching the statue's head.
Egypt protested that the Chinese authorities should have requested a permit from the Egyptian government and is now seeking to destroy the statue for once and all.
