Strengthening bilateral cooperation with China is a “strategic choice” for Greece, leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said on the eve of a five-day official visit to Beijing and Shanghai aimed at wooing investors.

In an interview with the state news agency Xinhua, Tsipras said his visit signalled the joint will between the two countries to “take a big step forward.”

The Greek coalition leader said that the sale of Piraeus Port to China Cosco Shipping could become the springboard for a “new, mutually beneficial” agreement between the two countries.

On Thursday, the government tried frantically to put out a fire that started when Cosco raised objections to “unilateral” changes to the agreement for the sale of a majority stake in Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) that was submitted for ratification to Parliament earlier in the week.

Fearing that the latest fiasco would cast a shadow over the China visit, the government backtracked on the changes it made to the agreement that had angered the Chinese company.