President Xi has said that he wants to deepen economic ties with Greece and turn its biggest port into the “dragon head” of plans to increase China’s influence in the Mediterranean.

His remarks, made yesterday at the start of a three-day official visit, follow years of assiduous courtship and chequebook diplomacy by Beijing. He and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister, had agreed to forge ahead with a €600 million investment by China’s Cosco Shipping company in the port of Piraeus aimed at boosting its role as a trade hub between Asia and Europe.

The deal has raised concerns in Brussels and Washington, which have accused China of using its economic muscle to become, in effect, a 21st-century colonial power. Beijing has helped to build ports in Gwadar in Pakistan and Hambantota in Sri Lanka, as well as in Burma and Bangladesh.

President Xi has said that he wants to deepen economic ties with Greece and turn its biggest port into the “dragon head” of plans to increase China’s influence in the Mediterranean.

His remarks, made yesterday at the start of a three-day official visit, follow years of assiduous courtship and chequebook diplomacy by Beijing. He and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister, had agreed to forge ahead with a €600 million investment by China’s Cosco Shipping company in the port of Piraeus aimed at boosting its role as a trade hub between Asia and Europe.

The deal has raised concerns in Brussels and Washington, which have accused China of using its economic muscle to become, in effect, a 21st-century colonial power. Beijing has helped to build ports in Gwadar in Pakistan and Hambantota in Sri Lanka, as well as in Burma and Bangladesh.

Analysts say that the facilities are part of a Chinese “string of pearls” strategy, which uses a network of ports across the Indian Ocean to mount a challenge to the Indian and US navies. Mr Mitsotakis, however, sought to mitigate those fears yesterday, saying that Greece’s growing ties with China could help to “mature and harmonise” the West’s troubled relations with Beijing.

He welcomed plans by Cosco to transform Piraeus into the biggest port in Europe, which could boost the Greek economy after ten years of austerity and fiscal troubles.

© https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/greek-port-is-our-dragons-head-in-the-mediterranean-says-xi-jinping-xrd5nll0r