China News: Greece | China Digital Times (CDT)

China news tagged with: Greece (3)

RSS feed for this topic

Related tags

Has the EU Escaped a Chinese Rescue?

From the EuoropeanVoice.com:

It looks like Greece will be all right. After years of denial and budget blow-outs that left the country’s public finance in a dire mess, it was announced after the summit of EU leaders on 11 February that – in one way or another – the eurozone will support Greece in getting its economy back on track… Europeans asking each other for help and getting it (albeit in undefined terms) looks like good news for the European Union. But there is one worrying element to this Greek tragedy that people seem to have forgotten: Greece went to China first.

In late January, Greece, through the good services of Goldman Sachs, offered China €25 billion of its public bonds.

We know we are living through a power shift from West to East. We also know that Europe has difficulty coping with pressing global issues. But this opening by Greece to China highlights a few more disturbing trends for Europe…But if China accepted the Greek offer, what leverage would China gain over Europe? China’s investment funds cannot be seen to be so willing to pour money into failing public budgets unless there is a very good reason to do so. True, China has lent huge amounts of money to Russia, Brazil and western African nations. But these were trade-offs for equally huge natural resource deals. Unless we count the craftiness of Ulysses’ scions as a natural resource, Greece does not have much to barter with.

» Read more
- February 17, 2010 10:32 AM
China president in Greece for $1 billion port deal

From the Associated Press:

Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Greece on Monday for a three-day meeting coinciding with a $1 billion port deal. The deal gives Chinese company Cosco Pacific Ltd. a 35-year concession to manage container operations the port of Piraeus, Greece’s main port. Greece and China have strengthened ties since the 2008 Olympics. As the article comments,

Last year, the volume of trade between the two countries was euro2.9 billion ($3.7 billion) with Chinese exports making up more than 95 percent of that figure, according to data from the Hellenic-Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

The visit comes on the heels of Hu’s visit to Latin America, as posted in this CDT article.

Regarding the potential benefits of the visit, the BBC comments:

Greek officials say the visit heralds a new era in increasingly warm relations between the two countries. Greek entrepreneurs have been urged to use Mr Hu’s trip as an opportunity to boost exports to China.
» Read more
- November 24, 2008 2:48 PM
Greece to boost education cooperation with China – Xinhua

From Xinhua News Agency (link):

The Greek government wants to boost education cooperation with China, especially between universities of the two countries, said Greece’s Education Minister Marietta Yiannakou.

Yiannakou told Xinhua ahead of a visit to China that she would sign a cooperation agreement with the Chinese Education Ministry during her stay in Beijing in a bid to push forward bilateral education exchanges and cooperation.
» Read more
- April 7, 2006 5:57 PM