#papageorgiou

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.

When Lord Elgin broke off and removed half of the sculptures of the Parthenon, he left a festering sore on one of the greatest world historical monuments. He, thus, rightfully gained the title of one of history’s great buccaneers. The present day sees Lord Elgin’s philistine behaviour being copied in a most remarkable place — namely, Greece. While Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, like his predecessors, continues to demand the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum, his behaviour in the recovery and protection of the unique “Byzantine Pompeei” discovered in the Greek city of Thessaloniki, has drawn fierce local and international criticism. He now stands accused of being highly disrespectful to Greece’s antiquities himself. Lord Elgin’s excuse for buccaneering was lame, namely the locals could not be trusted in safe keeping the artefacts. Lately, Greek authorities are seen by many as trying to supply some evidence for the late Lord.

Award-winning, with rich activity, in criticism, essay, teaching, radio, but mainly in poetic speech, Kostas G. Papageorgiou was one of the main representatives of the generation of the '70s and of those who with their analytical thinking renewed modern Greek poetry. Born in 1945, he published his first collection of poems in 1966 and since then became a leading presence in Greek letters with more than 30 books of poetry, fiction and essays.