An official ceremony was held in Piraeus on Thursday for the arrival of China’s18th fleet, which is participating in international operations against piracy.
The Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was present at the ceremony and was received on-board the Changbai Shan 989 frigate by Admiral Zhang Chuan Shu. In his short speech, the admiral welcomed the Prime Minister and praised Greece for evacuating Chinese citizens from Libya a year ago.
Mr. Tsipras wished the Chinese people a happy new year, on occasion of the celebrations in China and spoke of the strong historic ties between the two people, which have developed into trade and finances over the past years. The PM said that “Greece will always support the Chinese people, whenever is needed”, in reference to evacuation operations in Libya and Albania.
Special mention was made for the Chinese investments at the port of Piraeus, with Mr. Tsipras assuring that the government will support them and seek to strengthen them. Mr. Tsipras underlined that he will seek to expand Greek and Chinese cooperation and concluded that the Greek people are currently struggling to establish its national independence.
