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The Trump administration has urged Greece to remove the Chinese owners of the port of Piraeus. The US Ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, in an interview with local television station Antenna TV, stated that it is time for the Port of Piraeus to be taken away from China and put back up for sale.
“It’s unfortunate, but I think there are ways to get around this, that something can be resolved, whether it’s going down a path of increasing production in other areas or maybe Piraeus could be for sale. I think it’s very important to have American infrastructure here to help support the region. Maybe, in fact, to increase production from other ports and areas to balance the Chinese influence with the port of Piraeus ,” the US ambassador said.
Guilfoyle added that Washington sees Greece as a growing energy hub, essential for ensuring energy independence "to counter Russian and Chinese interests."
China invested heavily in debt-ridden Greece during the country's long economic crisis, aiming to make it a hub for Chinese exports. Athens actively courted Beijing, while companies from other Western countries turned their backs on Greece, frightened by its financial problems and notorious bureaucracy.
Cosco, the Chinese state-owned shipping company, secured a majority stake in Greece's largest port, Piraeus, in 2016, making it a key part, the so-called dragon's head, of its global infrastructure project, known as the "One Belt, One Road" Initiative.
Greece sold the port of Piraeus under pressure from the country's European creditors, and Cosco was the only company to submit a bid.
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