Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Relations between China and Greece — an example to others?
JENNY CLEGG examines what Yanis Varoufakis had to say about dealing with China

YANIS VAROUFAKIS, the well-known Greek anti-austerity economist and academic, who served as the minister of finance in the left-wing Syriza government from January to July 2015, has had some interesting things to say about China, both in its relations with Greece and in its role in the wider world economy after the 2008 financial crash.

At the same time as he was leading the fraught negotiations with Greece’s creditors, Varoufakis was also negotiating a deal with China. 

His experiences with the Troika — the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank — on the one hand and with Chinese officials on the other could not have been more different.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Morning Star team in China
Features / 20 September 2025
20 September 2025

ROGER McKENZIE argues that the BRI represents a choice between treating humans as commodities or as equals — an essential project when, aside from China’s efforts, hundreds of millions worldwide are trapped in poverty

Telling ‘Silk Road stories’ for a multipolar world
Features / 19 September 2025
19 September 2025

Morning Star editor BEN CHACKO reports from the start of Kunming’s Belt and Road media forum, where 200 journalists from 71 countries celebrated a new openness and optimism, forged by China’s enormous contribution to global development

all the delegates for the Fourth Wanshou Dialogue on Global Security, Jenny Clegg is front row second left
Features / 4 July 2025
4 July 2025

JENNY CLEGG reports from a Chinese peace conference bringing together defence ministers, US think tanks and global South leaders, where speakers warned that the erosion of multilateralism risks regional hotspots exploding into wider war

MARCHING EAST: German soldiers march at the formal inauguration of a German brigade for Nato’s eastern flank Lithuania, Thursday May 22
Features / 29 May 2025
29 May 2025

In the first half of a two-part article, PETER MERTENS looks at how Nato’s €800 billion ‘Readiness 2030’ plan serves Washington’s pivot to the Pacific, forcing Europeans to dismantle social security and slash pensions to fund it