#obor

Dragons are common symbols of formidable and auspicious powers in Chinese culture. In China’s New Silk Road, the “dragon’s head” is the Greek Port of Piraeus, as President Xi put it. Greece’s largest and Europe’s seventh-largest port has become the cornerstone of multifaceted and growing Chinese investment in the country. But despite triumphal cries, whether the Chinese will bring the Golden Fleece to the Greeks remains to be seen.

Despina Papageorgiou is a journalist based in Athens who writes for, among other publications, AthensLive.

President Xi Xinping introduced the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI), a massive infrastructure programme expanding China’s influence from East Asia to Europe, in 2013. The Chinese were far-sighted enough, however, to have already secured the vital stronghold for this plan back in 2008 by establishing a foothold in the Greek Port of Piraeus—even before the Troika forced debt-ridden Greece to sell off public property on a massive scale.

Piraeus’s geographical position at the crossroads of three continents provided the Chinese with the ideal gateway to Europe—China’s second largest trading partner, especially given that over 80percent of China’s trade with the EU depends on maritime routes. Compared to northern European ports, Piraeus saves China one week of sailing, not to mention a lot of money.

Greek-Chinese cooperation has been deepening since 2008, even sparking fears of Greece becoming China’s “Trojan Horse” in Europe. These fears were enhanced when Greece blocked two EU and one UN resolution condemning China. The already close cooperation was “sealed” in 2018 when the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly advance construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, and a year later when Greece officially joined China’s 16+1 Initiative with Central and Eastern European Countries, thereby making it 17+1.

A landmark visit to Greece by China’s president Xi Jinping has cemented what both countries are calling a “new era” in bilateral ties amid western concern over Beijing’s growing global assertiveness.

Athens rolled out the red carpet for Xi as the centre-right government sought to capitalise on Greece’s burgeoning role as China’s “gateway” to Europe.

“This visit opens a new chapter of decisive importance in the already excellent relations between China and Greece,” said the Greek president, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, addressing a dinner held in honour of the leader Monday night. “[It] fundamentally upgrades our strategic partnership,” he added after the two sides signed 16 trade deals in areas as diverse as banking, tourism and solar energy.

The three-day tour is Xi’s first to Athens. It comes barely a week after the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, returned from Shanghai where the Chinese president raised the prospect of Greece becoming “a logistics centre” for the transhipment of western-bound Chinese goods.

Meeting Mitsotakis earlier on Monday, Xi vowed to “deepen cooperation” between countries he firmly believes are closely bonded by a shared sense of historical heritage. “We are both ancient civilisations and should join hands to deliver greater benefits to our peoples,” he told the Greek PM.

The exchange of such high-level talks in quick succession has illuminated the significance Beijing now gives Greece as Xi forges ahead with his signature foreign policy goal of bolstering Chinese connectivity with the world through the Belt and Road Initiative.

Fears of China’s spreading influence have grown dramatically since Cosco, the state-run shipping company, won a 35-year concession to take over and manage cargo piers in Piraeus. The strategic port has become emblematic of the country’s investment in Greece. A decade later an estimated 10% of Chinese exports to Europe are thought to move through Piraeus, making it a direct competitor to continental ports further north such as Hamburg and Rotterdam.

It was a visit worthy of a plethora of superlatives. The arrival of China’s President Xi Jinping in Athens (November 10-12) was termed a “vote of confidence” for Greece.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis underlined that Greece and China are bound together by their cultural heritages, linking ancient civilizations of the West and East. President Xi described China’s multi-decade anchor investment in the Port of Piraeus as the “biggest project of the One Belt, One Road Initiative” (OBOR, the official Chinese term for the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI)). Beijing and Athens spoke of transforming Piraeus into the “biggest” port in Europe. Chinese investment into the port will further expand. The presence of state-owned China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO), the majority owner of the Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) was termed “the dragon’s head” by President Xi.

After Greece temporarily hosted a pair of U.S. military drones, Greek defense minister Panagiotis Kammenos said last fall that, “It’s very important for Greece that the United States deploy military assets in Greece on a more permanent base.”

Indeed, Greece just took delivery of some 70 military helicopters that it had purchased from the U.S., and there have been discussions about basing American drones, air tankers and other military aircraft on Greek soil.

COSCO, a state-owned Chinese shipping and logistics-services company, has invested more than 3.5 billion euros in renovating the historic Greek port of Piraeus, which is now the second-largest port in the Mediterranean. The Chinese brag that it will soon become the busiest. The massive renovation is part of China’s 35-year lease of two of the port’s container terminals and the Chinese purchase of a majority stake in Piraeus’s port authority.

Despite recent spats, Vladimir Putin’s Russia remains a supposed ally of Greece, given historic religious ties and the envisioned completion of a natural gas pipeline that will supply Russian gas to energy-starved Greece.

Greece has a complicated relationship with its European Union partners after its catastrophic financial meltdown and the often Dickensian terms of reform and repayment demanded by German bankers. Yet Greece appreciates that more European Union money goes into the country than goes out, even if many Greeks resent bitterly high-handed German dictates — and being manipulated as the frontline transit center for hundreds of thousands of migrants swarming into Europe from Africa and the Middle East.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Greek President Prokopios Pavlopoulos on Tuesday as Beijing ramps up overtures to what it considers its next foothold into the European Union.

With Italy now officially part of the Belt and Road infrastructure building initiative, Xi is eager to secure a clear path to the west through greater trade and the use of soft power.

"Greece is a good friend to China," Xi said during their summit, calling on Pavlopoulos to help make Belt and Road a success. Pavlopoulos said he was happy to visit during the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. China's state broadcaster heavily covered the trip while ignoring the newest round of U.S. tariffs.

China and Greece have grown closer in recent years. The Xi administration gave financial assistance to Greece during its debt crisis, and a Chinese state-owned company bought Greece's largest port of Piraeus. "The Port of Piraeus, which has won extensive acclaim, is an exemplar of successful cooperation between China and Greece," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Monday.

This partnership seems to be accelerating, with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras attending a Belt and Road summit in China in late April. Tsipras also participated for the first time in China's "16+1" summit with Central and Eastern European countries that month.