CHINA AND THE PORT OF PIRAEUS

CHINA'S NEW SILK ROAD INTO EUROPE

A bold bid for Greece's premier port of Piraeus by state-owned Cosco has given Beijing a foothold on the doorstep of the Continent.

Harriet Alexander

The Telegraph, July 4, 2010

Golfis Yiannis stands on the dock of the Athenian port of Piraeus, unflinching among the dust clouds stirred by the thundering lorries and clattering forklift trucks unloading the vast container ships.

"That's Europe's new China Town over there," he says, pointing to the pier adjacent to where he is standing. "The only thing that is certain is that we've sold our soul to the Chinese."

Pier Two of the container port, where Mr Yiannis, 48, has worked for the last 22 years, may seem exactly the same as Pier One – certainly larger, but similarly flanked by gigantic ships and stacked with huge Lego brick-style containers.

But where as Pier One is Greek, Pier Two is now Chinese.

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