[zekevermillion]

I highly recommend Yannis Varoufakis' books, especially Adults in the Room. Varoufakis was the Syriza finance minister who resigned when Tsipras caved to Eurogroup pressure to accept another "extend-and-pretend" bailout (as in, extend the debt maturity, pretend that Greece will be able to pay when it comes due). At one point, as Varoufakis tells it, the Chinese informally committed to provide a large investment that would have allowed Greece to exert more bargaining power vs. the Eurogroup in debt negotiations. It was a good deal for Greece and China, but someone in the EU bureaucracy pressured China not to go forward with the deal -- the reason being that the Eurogroup wanted to preserve its own power to force extreme austerity on Greece in perpetuity.

Now of course this is just regurgitating Varoufakis' description, but I find it rather compelling. China is only a small player in the Greek debt drama, but it seems to me that they are one of the few friends that Greece has that is both willing and able to play a helpful role.

(But limited by political considerations within Europe itself!)

[hourislate]

> China is only a small player in the Greek debt drama, but it seems to me that they are one of the few friends that Greece has that is both willing and able to play a helpful role.

Is/was their role charitable because they are nice guys? or is there something there for them also? I would imagine that they had a long view and would have really liked to get control of Greece as a gateway to Europe by taking advantage of the Greek financial crisis. I don't believe China has any friends, just business partners they cooperate with to benefit them in the end.

[zekevermillion]

Yes, I'm sure you are correct. Saying a country is a "friend" is a poor metaphor, in the world of realpolitik. But Varoufakis certainly appeared to view China as a helpful partner, whatever state interests were advanced on the Chinese side. Of course even "charity" in the form of direct aid is never without strings of dependency, other geopolitical aspects.