The Evolution Of Greek Public Opinion On Sino-Greek Agreements

In November 2008, an agreement was signed between the Greek authorities and Chinese state-owned company Cosco Pacific, conceding terminals II and III of the port of Piraeus-Greece’s most important port-to Cosco for a period of 35 years. This concession is one of the most important foreign investments to take place in Greece, and it constitutes a major milestone for Sino-Greek relations, as well as for the future of maritime trade between China and Europe. China could be interested in improving its international public perception, as the Chinese government is highly interested in international media and other mechanisms that affect international public opinion. This is why studying the public discourse and public opinion on the concession of the port of Piraeus to Cosco could be useful not only to future investors in Greece, but also for evaluating China’s public image internationally. The importance of public opinion on the subject becomes more apparent when viewed from a constructivist angle, where the effects of public opinion on foreign policy is widely accepted. This is all the more true when it taking into account Greece’s new elected political party, Syriza, which seemingly gives much more importance than its predecessors to the Greek public’s views and demands. However, to be able to properly comprehend the current Greek media and the prejudices and mechanisms already affecting the Greek public opinion, it is imperative to first understand the context in which these have been developed and the context in which they will be analyzed. To achieve this, this paper will first do a thorough analysis of the Greek Crisis and the measures that have been taken to counter it. We will show that those measures have directly affected public opinion towards privatizations and foreign investments, which therefore also affects Cosco. Since not much has been written in China on the origins of the Greek crisis, a preliminary review of the origins of the crisis will help better understand the Greek population’s motives and inclinations. An equivalent analysis will be done on the deal between Piraeus and Cosco itself, firstly to establish a proper background, and secondly so that the different reactions from the public as well as the changes in Cosco’s perceptions will be more easily situated on a timeline. Lastly, this paper makes an analysis of the relevant Greek public discourse and public opinion through the main Greek newspapers. Despite the strong mediatisation of the strikes and the allegedly sub-par working conditions at the Piraeus port, the public opinion on the concession of the Piraeus port by Cosco seems to have drastically improved since the beginning of the concession. As we can deduce from polls and the overall tendencies in the Greek newspapers, the majority of the population sees Cosco’s investment in Piraeus as a positive development, which generally also extends to further Chinese investments in Greece.