Greece is a critical Mediterranean stop for China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The Chinese state-owned shipping conglomerate COSCO now controls the Greek port of Piraeus, one of the largest in the Mediterranean. Greek and Chinese business interests have also had significant collaborations in the energy and telecommunication industries over the past two decades. But there are tensions and setbacks in this relationship, and the two countries’ media tend to narrate events quite differently. A March 2021 report by a Greek think-tank tried to map this discrepancy. “Sino-Greek Relations in Greek and Chinese Media, 2020”, released by the Institute of International Economic Relations (IIER) is a comparative analysis of media in Greece and China in 2020 and early 2021, based on about 600 media items. The material was drawn from a range of prominent Greek media outlets (in English and Greek), and English-language Chinese media outlets such as Xinhua, China Daily, and Global Times. To a lesser extent, the report also engaged with social media content. Unsurprisingly, most references to China in Greek media in 2020 are related to COVID-19, and they rarely mention Sino–Greek relations. However, 90 percent of news items on Sino–Greek relations in the Greek media, which made up around a third of total China-related news in Greece, were about COSCO's involvement with Piraeus. This makes sense: COSCO's investment is arguably the most critical part of the BRI in Greece. Despite Greek government support for a continued relationship, this investment is also a source of occasional tension in Sino–Greek relations. The Chinese shipping giant owns 51 percent of the Piraeus Port Authority, the company managing the Greek port. During the Greek debt crisis of the 2010s, COSCO was seen favourably by successive Greek governments who were keen to show that they could successfully attract foreign investment. Chinese officials, on the other hand, were (and likely still are) eager to signal internationally that, in Greece, they have a reliable business partner in the European Union. Broadly speaking, there are currently two sources of tension regarding COSCO's involvement in Greece. The first is that it hasn't managed to live up to its contractual obligations to deliver investments. These obligations were due in August 2021 and would have allowed COSCO to acquire an additional 16 percent stake in the port. The Chinese company is however expecting to receive that 16 percent anyway. Following an agreement with Greece's privatization fund that involves COSCO providing some form of guarantees, the company will likely get its additional stake this year, pending approval by the Greek parliament. The second issue surrounding COSCO's presence in Greece is that many—including labour unions, opposition parliamentarians, local politicians, environmental groups, and businesses—disagree with its policies in Piraeus. The IIER report argues that Greek outlets both friendly to and critical of the government tend to accurately describe these tensions. While anti-COSCO rhetoric may be more pronounced in opposition-affiliated media in Greece, pro-government outlets may also openly criticize the company. An article in liberal.gr, for instance, claims that even if COSCO were to acquire 100 percent of the company managing the port, issues with the “the broader business community of Piraeus” (Global Voices translation) would persist. Developments in Piraeus have also been covered in a positive light by the Greek media, giving voice to COSCO's perspective, which is that Greek bureaucracy is at the source of delays. But the IIER report says there is “no reference to friction in the Chinese media,” as it would be “an ‘irritant’ that affects negatively the Piraeus ‘success story’, which was built meticulously over the past decade or so.” In reality, there are some references in Chinese-language Chinese media to some of the difficulties in Piraeus, but they are very rare. Plamen Tonchev, the author of the IIER study, told Global Voices that there was not enough time to delve into Chinese-language media, but insisted that it is really the English-language media that would be more pertinent to understanding a global Chinese communication strategy. “Through these [publications] China can promote a ridiculous impression that Greece and China are long-lost first cousins enjoying a happy reunion several millennia later, thus concealing some of the thornier issues in the relationship,” he said. In early April 2021, China's ambassador to Greece Zhang Qiyue announced that she was returning to China.