Eager to tap into China's boundless market, Greece has joined a long list of European suitors courting trade contracts and travel deals with Beijing state officials and business representatives.
But while Athens rolls out the red carpet for a steady stream of visiting Chinese dignitaries, it is torn between desire for this lucrative trade and fear it could open the door to illegal immigration. In November, some 50 Chinese tourists were detained for more than a day at Athens International Airport by Greek police who doubted that they were legitimate travellers.
"This made a rather poor impression," conceded a high-ranking official of the Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourist Agencies (HATTA). "From the moment people acquire a visa, that should take care of everything...but some officials sometimes get overzealous," the official told AFP.
It is zeal borne of experience - Greek consulate officials in China have already dealt with cases of attempted illegal entry into the European Union using Greece as the front door. "Three months ago, one of my associates was contacted by a Chinese firm who said they wanted to do business with us," said a Greek entrepreneur who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"They asked us to intercede with the Greek consulate in China to get them travel visas.
"When we smelled a rat and checked with the Greek consulate in Shanghai, we found that they were on an immigration blacklist," he said. Greece - with its long porous coastline on Europe's southern flank with Asia just to the east and Africa a jump across the Mediterranean Sea - intercepts thousands of illegal immigrants from both these continents every year.
Those who try to stay face a grinding legal process and hefty fees in their quest for a residence permit, which can last up to a decade.
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