Beijing speaks of a Cold War mentality and a hegemonic logic
“The port of Piraeus will forever belong to the Greek people. It is not a tool to undermine prosperity and regional stability and must under no circumstances become a victim of a geopolitical clash”. This was stated by the spokesperson of the Embassy of China in Greece, responding to statements by the new US ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, who had expressed regret that COSCO had acquired control of the Greek port of Piraeus in 2016 (August 11, 2016).
“The new U.S. ambassador to Greece, during the interview – highlighted the spokesman of the Chinese embassy – launched unfounded attacks against investments and management of the port of Piraeus by Chinese companies. That constitutes a hostile denigration of normal Sino-Greek trade cooperation and serious interference in internal affairs of Greece. These statements, permeated by a mentality from the Cold War and from a hegemonic logic, contradict the professional ethics of a diplomat and fully reveal the fraudulent intention of the United States to serve its geopolitical interests, exploiting the port of Piraeus and even Greece. China expresses its deep dissatisfaction and its firm opposition to this statement”.
“China and Greece,” the spokesman continued, “are friends, support each other in difficult times and work together for mutual benefit. The cooperation between the two countries is based exclusively on mutual support, without geopolitical calculations; It does not target third parties or is affected by them. When Greece was facing the debt crisis, China lent a helping hand, allowing the port of Piraeus to develop to become one of the main ports in the Mediterranean and Europe, creating tens of thousands of jobs and bringing significant economic benefits to Greece. The success of the Chinese investments in the port of Piraeus is not just a model of Sino-Greek trade cooperation, but also a testimony of the mutual support of the two peoples in difficult times. In the future, Chinese enterprises will continue to increase their investments and, together with the hard-working and wise Greek people, will contribute to the further development of the port.”
Echoing what was reported by some media, according to which the American ambassador would have invited Greece to oust the Chinese state-owned company from the port of Piraeus, while Guilfoyle seems rather to have emphasized the will of the U.S. government to increase the U.S. presence in other Greek ports of call from Eleusis (November 18, 2025), the spokesperson for the Chinese embassy concluded noting that, “at a time when the port of Piraeus is rapidly developing, America, with selfish intentions, is inciting Greece to withdraw from its contractual obligations and to selling the port: this practice – he added – is a typical example of the imposition of one’s own thought on others and reveals a mentality that tries to undermine stability. These tricks, which reveal the fact that America judges others by itself and obviously serves their own purposes, are intended to failure in the face of the Greek people, bearer of millennia of civilization and wisdom. We advise the ambassador to seriously reflect on his statements with which he offended the Greek people and to ensure that their actions are in line with their status and that they are useful to the Greek people.
