The importance of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ visit to Beijing was mentioned, in an interview with ERT, by the Chinese ambassador to Greece, Xiao Juncheng.

“It is the first visit of a Greek prime minister to China in seven years. I am referring to a two-day official visit. Mr. Mitsotakis visited China in 2019, for the Shanghai International Import Expo. however, this time, it is an official visit. In Beijing, Prime Minister Mr. Mitsotakis with his Chinese counterpart, Prime Minister Li Chiang. He will also meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chinese National Assembly Speaker Zao Liqi. Prime Minister Mr. Mitsotakis and his government began their second term in the summer. Greece emerged from the shadow of the European debt crisis. At the same time, China also made great progress in the direction of modernization. So these two important historical events offer us an excellent opportunity to discuss our future cooperation” he said.

Referring to the agenda of the contacts, the Chinese ambassador said that the heads of state of the two states will discuss mutual political support, especially on both countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity issues. “They will discuss economic and trade cooperation within the framework of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. They will also discuss ways to improve and promote the level of dialogue between the two cultures,” he added.

He also pointed out that topics on the points of conflict, local and international, regarding the situation in the Middle East will be included in the discussions.

Xiao Juncheng made special reference to the upgrading of the Greek economy to the investment level. “A few days ago, on October 27, two Chinese credit rating agencies upgraded Greece’s rating to investment grade with a stable outlook. It is the first time that Chinese credit rating agencies have made such an announcement. This shows that Chinese financial institutions give a very positive and optimistic perspective on the future economic development of Greece,” he noted.

In fact, he expressed the belief that “this “green light” will encourage more and more Chinese investors to come to Greece”, emphasizing the sectors of the manufacturing industry.

Furthermore, he underlined that Greece and China could promote their cooperation in the fields of green development, decarbonization of shipping and transport. As far as the transport sector is concerned, the Chinese ambassador underlined that Greece’s strategic position makes it a gateway for the products of Eastern countries to the European markets. “The port of Piraeus is an example of these cases” he noted and additionally referred to the modernization projects for the construction of railways. “China has a lot of experience in operating high-speed railways and we would like to contribute to the modernization of Greek transport systems,” he said.

Asked specifically about the situation in the Middle East, he expressed concern about the escalation of conflicts. “The current Palestine-Israel conflict has caused serious concern throughout the world and requires critical choices between war and peace. China is very concerned about the continued escalation of conflicts and is devastated by the large number of casualties caused by these conflicts,” he said.

In this context, he condemned any act that endangers civilians and opposes any move to violate international laws. “All countries have the right to self-defense. But, it is very important… It is very important that they respect international humanitarian rules and protect civilians. The pressing issue now is to stop the situation from escalating further and causing even greater humanitarian disaster. The hard lessons of the perennial Palestinian-Israeli conflicts amply demonstrate that only by adhering to the common security policy can sustainable security be achieved, and only by adhering to a political agreement can the legitimate security concerns of Israelis be successfully addressed. The two-state solution has international consensus. So we hope that Israelis and Palestinians will keep in mind long-term peace and security for current and future generations. And they will return to the right path of the two-state solution and restart the peace talks as soon as possible,” he pointed out.

Asked whether Beijing is willing to play a mediating role in Israel’s conflict with Hamas, the Chinese ambassador said: “China has no selfish interests in the Palestinian issue and sincerely hopes that a comprehensive and just solution to the Palestinian issue can be found based on the two-state solution so that the reasonable security concerns of all parties can be truly and comprehensively resolved.” More specifically, he emphasized that China will fully support anything that contributes to peace and will do anything that contributes to the reconciliation of Palestine and Israel. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has already contacted his counterparts from Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other countries.”