With Egypt at odds with many countries, it’s hard to understand why it would shun opportunities to improve relations. Yet that has been its approach — or rather, lack of one — with Turkey, Italy and Britain.

Egypt was offered two golden opportunities to make diplomatic headway during the 71st session of the UN General Assembly, held last week in New York, and the G-20 summit, held Sept. 3-5 in China’s Hangzhou province. China chose Egypt as a guest of honor at the summit amid a group of 20 countries controlling two-thirds of the world's trade and 90% of the global output of crude oil. This seemed to reflect a positive development in Egyptian-Chinese relations.

Egypt’s relationship with Italy went sour earlier this year. On Feb. 3, Egyptian security forces found the body of Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni, which showed signs of torture, in a ditch on the outskirts of Cairo. Investigations kicked off surrounded by mystery as Egyptian, Arab and international media outlets suggested the security forces themselves were responsible for Regeni’s death. Regeni had been researching labor rights, a touchy subject in Egypt.

In June, the Italian Senate approved the “Regeni amendment,” halting Italy’s supply of spare F-16 military aircraft parts to Egypt in a move that was deemed escalatory. Also, the Italian Tourism Association suspended trips to Egypt, a move that added both insult and injury to Egypt’s struggling tourism industry.