The competition for global dominance is not only fought on battlefields—it is fought in ports, in sea lanes, and at the "gates" of trade. Right now, Greece is on the front line of a silent but explosive conflict. Donald Trump is making a dynamic return, opening a new front against Xi Jinping’s China, not in the Strait of Hormuz, but in the heart of the Mediterranean: Piraeus and Elefsina. Behind diplomatic moves, billion-dollar investments, and behind-the-scenes agreements, a geopolitical thriller is unfolding with the US, China, and Greece playing a key role. This is why Breitbart News interviewed the Minister of... Health, Adonis Georgiadis, to unravel the thread of competition behind Piraeus.
Sea passages
The Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East is not the only waterway occupying President Donald Trump right now, reports Breitbart News. While Trump and the international media may talk incessantly about the Strait of Hormuz, broader questions about other sea routes and waterways have largely dominated the global geopolitical discussion since Trump's return to the White House. These are at the heart of tensions between the US and China, which are expected to face off on a peak global stage when Trump visits Beijing in May. Adonis Georgiadis speaks about how Trump and his envoy to the Hellenic Republic outmaneuvered Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Eastern Mediterranean by constructing his own US-funded port, after a company linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took control of the Greek port during Trump's first term.
The role of Guilfoyle
Adonis Georgiadis gave a long interview to Breitbart News when the outlet traveled to Athens for a massive event featuring the US Ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle. Guilfoyle gave an extensive on-stage interview at the Nisyros Dialogues event in Athens, held at the Hotel Grande Bretagne and hosted by Greek businessman Petros Michalos in mid-February. In 2019, during Trump's first term in the White House, Georgiadis was the Minister of Development and Investment. "At that time, COSCO had already purchased the port of Piraeus," Georgiadis told Breitbart News. "They came to my office, with the ambassador they had, and told me they wanted to buy the Elefsina shipyard." COSCO, Georgiadis explained, is a "Chinese state-owned company." "It is not a private state-owned company - COSCO belongs to the Chinese government," he said.
What happened in Panama
The same company, COSCO, canceled its operations in Panama due to the Panamanian government's move to strip Chinese companies of port operations at both ends of the Panama Canal. The move was seen as retaliation against the Panamanians, as Western companies are set to handle the ports until a competitive bidding process is held. Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised this move by the Panama Supreme Court. But COSCO's withdrawal is not the only retaliation China has unleashed on Panama - the country has also, according to sources who revealed it to Breitbart News in March, threatened to detain Panama-flagged ships in Chinese ports.
The role of Geoffrey Pyatt
Georgiadis stated that in late 2019 he called the then US Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt, a career diplomat who served in several administrations, including Trump's first term, as well as those of former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. "I told Geoffrey Pyatt, I said, 'Geoffrey, I have a very big problem because the Chinese want to buy the shipyard, and the Elefsina shipyard was the only thing China hadn't bought in the region,'" Georgiadis told Breitbart News. "So, I said I wanted to find an investment from the United States."
"Courtesy" of Adonis Georgiadis
Pyatt organized a meeting for Georgiadis with the CEO of the Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Adam Boehler. The DFC, which launched in late 2019 during Trump's first term, according to a Congressional Research Service report, "uses financial tools to promote private investment in the economic development of less developed countries" and "aims to support development impact, US economic interests, and US foreign policy." "I went to his office and the first thing he told me was that the DFC at that time could not finance Greece because Greece was not among the countries the DFC could finance, as the DFC was for underdeveloped countries," Georgiadis recalled. So, Georgiadis pulled out his phone and played a video for Boehler of Chinese President Xi visiting Greece to declare the port of Piraeus as the "head of the dragon" in the region. Xi had just visited Greece in November 2019 to proclaim the port of Piraeus, controlled by the Chinese company COSCO, as China's "dragon head" in the region. "COSCO is the dragon head for China in Greece," Xi said, according to a Times of London report from the visit, which is also prominently displayed on the Piraeus official website.
Without options
Georgiadis told Breitbart News that his pitch to Boehler was that while he would deal with China regarding Elefsina, he preferred not to - but he had to make a choice. "I am not the United States of America, but I was also the Minister of Development," said Georgiadis. "I have a bankrupt company there. If you say you don't care and my only offer is from China, I will give it to China, right? Not because I want to, but because I have no other choice. But before I do that, because I think it will be bad, watch this video and decide." When he saw the video, I don't remember, but this guy was a very smart, very capable guy and a friend of President Trump. He said, "What? Can you play it again?" I played it a second time. So he said, "I will find a way." I said "Okay, I won't do anything and I will wait for the United States of America." About a month later, a measure to amend the DFC country list to include Greece was considered in Congress and passed on a bipartisan basis.
The trip to the US
Shortly after, in early 2020, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis traveled to the White House with Georgiadis to meet with Trump - just before the coronavirus pandemic paralyzed the world's economies. Georgiadis said he saw Mitsotakis talking to Trump about the Elefsina shipyard and explained the situation of how China was trying to buy it so it could control most of Greece's shipping industry, and how the DFC was considering an alternative offer from the United States to finance it. Georgiadis told Breitbart News that he heard Trump tell Mitsotakis directly that he would settle everything and that his ministers would work with Trump's cabinet at the time to arrange it all. "President Trump, in the Oval Office, told Mitsotakis in front of me - I was there - to please tell your minister to talk to my minister to find a way," Georgiadis told Breitbart News. "So, the next day, we went to the office of Mr. Wilbur Ross [at the Department of Commerce] and created a channel between us to talk and organize how the DFC would finance or buy Elefsina."
The presence of the DFC
Georgiadis said things were moving fast at the end of the first Trump administration, but then slowed down a bit during the Biden administration, though they continued. With Trump's return to the White House, things accelerated once again. Now, the deal is profitable for the US government and the DFC. "The best news of all is that it is a profitable investment for the DFC," Georgiadis told Breitbart News.
"Unique location"
Guilfoyle, during her interview with Breitbart News at the Nisyros Dialogue event in Athens, highlighted the American efforts in Elefsina to undermine China in Piraeus. "Geopolitically, Greece is in a very unique location, just with the rich infrastructure with the ports," Guilfoyle said. "So, what we managed to do with Elefsina is extremely important. This is real money coming out of the pockets of American taxpayers - dollars to invest in your country to make sure you can have a strong energy environment."
The "enmity"
Late last year, Chinese officials at the Chinese embassy in Athens, according to Politico, attacked Guilfoyle for her efforts to counter Chinese influence with American influence in Greece. A Chinese embassy spokesperson, according to the Politico report, described Guilfoyle's comments, which characterized Chinese investments in Greece as "unfortunate," as something they considered "malicious slander" and "serious interference in Greece's internal affairs." When asked during the Nisyros Dialogues event by Breitbart News if Greece represents the front line of the dispute over influence in shipping and sea lanes between the United States and China, Guilfoyle replied that it does.
US "assistance"
She said part of the reason China managed to gain a foothold in Greece was because Greece did not previously have its own version of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US—known as CFIUS for short—but that now the United States is helping allies like Greece address this globally. "That's why I'm here. I like being on the front line," Guilfoyle said. "This is the situation. I am here as the American Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic. Every day when I wake up in the morning, I will find a way to promote American interests, money, infrastructure, etc., so that we work together with Greece and our other allies in this region. If that means I react very aggressively to Chinese interests, I will do that every day, and I will do it without apology because that is my job and it is best for national security. China is smart. Look, they saw the opportunity. They came to Greece. But to be fair, it was at a time when the economy wasn't doing as well as it is today. They were the only bidder. That's the reality. Learn the history lesson. The only bidder at that time who went and chased Piraeus. Smartly, they chased it. Unfortunately, they managed to succeed. So what can you do about it? Well, develop what we have - in the United States, which is CFIUS, a review committee; when foreign countries try to invest money in your country, you examine it. You evaluate it. It has to go through it. And there's something like an in-depth investigation. Now, they are doing this. They didn't have that at their disposal then. So, there was no temporary gap to prevent such a thing."
The importance of Elefsina
All this makes the US installation at the port of Elefsina in Greece even more important—which is just 12 miles away from the China-controlled port of Piraeus. The US is beginning to confront China on the high seas, whether in Panama, East Asia, the Middle East, or across Europe, as in Greece. Greece is also considered by many as the "center of the world," given its dynamic as a geopolitical gateway from the Far East to the Far West, according to Breitbart News. It is the easternmost major European nation and, with many islands and a rich maritime trade industry with a history reaching back to antiquity—Greek ships handle about 25% of the global liquefied natural gas (LNG)—it is no wonder why Xi believed that the Chinese dragon had conquered a significant path to the West when he visited Piraeus to celebrate what he called the "dragon head."
Guilfoyle's first actions
But this is why the American counter-attack in Elefsina led by Trump, dating back to his first term, was sealed by Guilfoyle late last year. One of her first actions as US ambassador was helping to promote the project after the DFC committed $125 million from the United States there. Georgiadis told Breitbart News that Trump and the Greek government led by Mitsotakis killed the head of the Chinese dragon. "Of course, this is the biggest victory you have achieved, perhaps globally regarding China, because it's not just Greece, it's the gateway to Europe," said Georgiadis. "It's not about the local market. I mean, the port of Piraeus with COSCO is now the third-largest port in the European Union. Therefore, it is a really big gateway."
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