After Paris and Belgrade, Chinese President Xi Jinping praised Thursday, May 9, the strength of the ties uniting his country with Hungary, the last stop on his European tour, between flourishing economic cooperation and convergence of views on the Russian offensive in Ukraine. After a military parade alongside the Hungarian head of state Tamas Sulyok, he had an appointment at the Carmelite monastery, the Prime Minister’s residence, to meet Viktor Orban.
For this visit described as “historic” by Budapest, the capital decorated in the colors of China was placed under high security and the rare flags displayed by Tibetan demonstrators carefully hidden from the view of the Chinese president. “Sino-Hungarian relations are at their peak” in 75 years of history, welcomed Xi Jinping.
Before his arrival, he had compared them to a “golden cruise” in a forum. “We challenged the geopolitical order together in an unstable international context,” charting our course “as sovereign states in complete independence,” he wrote. A nod to the go-it-alone strategy led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban within the European Union. While scrambling with Brussels, the nationalist leader has resolutely turned towards the East in recent years. And when Brussels distanced itself from Beijing, it instead strengthened ties, rejecting the ideological confrontation of the “blocs”.
Diplomatic success
This stay of almost three days is an opportunity to “take our strategic partnership to new heights”, estimated the Chinese head of state, from cultural exchanges to economic cooperation, while the Asian superpower has become the first investor in Hungary last year. For Viktor Orban, it is a diplomatic success. The choice made by Xi Jinping to visit Paris and Budapest within the EU “shows the importance that Hungary is taking on the international scene”, welcomed his chief of staff Gergely Gulyas.
Budapest has already announced the signing of at least 16 agreements, in rail and road infrastructure, nuclear energy and even automobiles. Across the country, battery and electric car factories are growing at an impressive speed, requiring investments of tens of billions of euros. Enough to arouse the concerns of the opposition which denounces the opacity surrounding contracts, the environmental impact of factories and corruption, the constructions enriching, according to it, “Orban’s circle”.
