FT: Tsipras hoping to join China’s ’16+1′ group

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is expected to participate in a two-day meeting between China and 16 eastern European countries which will begin in Dubrovnik on Thursday, in the hopes of joining the so-called “16+1” group of states with closer relations to Beijing, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

According to the paper, Tsipras sent a letter to the group expressing Greece’s willingness to join.

“The participation of Greece…is consistent with the willingness of my country to enhance its role in the region and promote peace and co-development, also on the basis of its strategic co-operation with China,” he reportedly wrote to his Zoran Zaev, prime minister of North Macedonia.

The FT says an official in Tsipras’s office confirmed the letter and Greece’s intention to join the 16+1 group.