Greece is tapping China's deep pockets to help rebuild its economy

PIRAEUS, GREECE -- Nearly bankrupt and sullied in the eyes of foreign investors, Greece is moving to rebuild its economy by tapping the deep pockets of another ancient civilization: China.

Spurred on by government incentives and bargain-basement prices, the Chinese are planning to pump hundreds of millions -- perhaps billions -- of euros into Greece even as other investors run the other way. The cornerstone of those plans is the transformation of the Mediterranean port of Piraeus into the Rotterdam of the south, creating a modern gateway linking Chinese factories with consumers across Europe and North Africa.

The port project is emerging as a bellwether for Greek plans to pay down debt and reinvent its broken economy by privatizing inefficient government-owned utilities, trains and even casinos. This week, the Chinese shipping giant Cosco assumed full control of the major container dock in Piraeus, just southwest of Athens. In return, the Chinese have pledged to spend $700 million to construct a new pier and upgrade existing docks.

The Greek government, for its part, is taking on the powerful unions in a bid to ensure that the Chinese can introduce dramatic changes to increase efficiency and productivity. That effort has ironically turned the Greek Communist Party -- which is closely aligned with the labor unions -- into the fiercest critic of China's economic march on Greece.

The Greek government is also courting China for a bevy of other projects, including a sprawling new distribution center in the industrial wastelands west of Athens, a monorail line, five-star hotels and a new maritime theme park. Greek hotels, eager to fill rooms as crisis-weary Europeans cut back on travel, are also wooing Chinese tour operators as never before. The whitewashed island of Santorini has started selling itself as the ideal spot for "Big Fat Mandarin Weddings" and has seen a surge in fairytale nuptials by wealthy Chinese as a result.

"We have a saying in China, 'Construct the eagle's nest, and the eagle himself will come,' " Wei Jiafu, Cosco's charismatic chief executive, said in a televised interview in Athens this week. A high-ranking member of China's Communist Party, he is now so well-known in Greece that many here refer to him by his nickname, "Captain Wei."

"We have constructed such a nest in your country to attract such Chinese eagles," he said. "This is our contribution to you."

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