Why Greece’s new government is likely to stay close to China

Greece’s incoming Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will have to decide whether to continue opening up the country to Chinese investment following his election victory on Sunday.

Although the previous government led by Syriza signed up for the Belt and Road Initiative in 2018, earlier this year the leader of the centre-right New Democracy party told the US broadcaster PBS that “I don’t understand what it means to formally join the belt and road … Nobody’s approached me with a formal offer”.

His gaffe did not go unnoticed in the country’s media, which pointed out that Greece was the first developed country to sign a memorandum of understanding with China over the multibillion-dollar global infrastructure and investment strategy.

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