In Budapest, Xi hails China's deep friendship with Hungary

Chinese President Xi Jinping found another safe zone on Thursday in a continent increasingly suspicious of his country, meeting in Budapest with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the eternal outsider of the European Union. and a strong supporter of warm relations with both countries. China and Russia.

As during his previous stop in Serbia, Mr Xi received an enthusiastic welcome and was spared protesters, with his airport motorcade taking a detour to the Hungarian capital on Wednesday evening, avoiding Tibetan demonstrators.

Police banned a demonstration planned for Thursday in central Budapest and a large Tibetan flag that had been raised on a hill overlooking the site of a welcome reception was covered by a Chinese flag.

In an article from Hungarian nation, which is controlled by Mr. Orbans' ruling party, Fidesz, Mr. Xi spoke highly of his deep friendship with Hungarian leaders and described Hungary as a trusted traveling companion in what he called a golden journey that took relationships to their best period in history. Hungary, he stressed, was the No. 1 target for Chinese investments in the Central and Eastern European region.

The arrival of Chinese leaders in Budapest sealed Mr. Orban's long and steady transformation from an anti-communist liberal firebrand once financed by Hungarian-born American financier George Soros to one of the Chinese Communist Party's longest-serving leaders. Europe's most fervent admirers and protectors.

In 2000, during his first term as Prime Minister, Mr. Orban met in Budapest with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader in exile, but today he is a persistent opponent within the European Union of any criticism of the Chinese policy in Tibet, Hong Kong and around the world. western region of Xinjiang, home to the persecuted Uighur minority.

Hungary has infuriated other members of the European bloc in 2021 by block a statement criticizing Beijing's crackdown on protests in Hong Kong. He has repeatedly sought to water down any condemnation of China's human rights record, with Mr Orban chastising fellow EU leaders for their frivolous behavior towards a rising economic and military superpower that he sees as vital to Europe's future prosperity.

Theresa Fallon, director of the Center for Russia, Europe and Asia, a Brussels research group, said Mr. Orban had become China's point person in the EU for blocking or watering down anything that didn't please him. He used many political assets in Brussels to help China.

Already a major center for German automakers, Hungary is now turning to Chinese investment to establish itself as Europe's leading manufacturing center for electric vehicles, batteries and other new technologies.

BYD, the Chinese electric vehicle giant, announced in December that it would build an assembly plant in Hungary, its first production plant in Europe. Great Wall Engineanother major Chinese electric vehicle company, plans to build an even bigger factory in Hungary.

Mr. Orban was the only European Union leader to attend an October meeting in Beijing of world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, celebrating China's Belt and Road infrastructure program. China, Mr. Xi's favorite foreign policy initiative.

Xi, in his article in Magyar Nemzet, said China is willing to work closely with Hungary on Belt and Road projects and promised to accelerate the construction of a high-speed train between Budapest and the Serbian capital, Belgrade. The rail line, China's flagship infrastructure project in the region, has faced regulatory and other problems and has progressed at a snail's pace over five years of work.

The shift toward China by Mr. Orban and his once strongly anti-communist party, Fidesz, began in 2011, shortly after he returned to power for a second term, now 14 years, as prime minister, with announcement of a new direction in foreign policy. known as the Eastern Opening, which aimed to attract investment from Asia, mainly China.

There has been a 180-degree turnaround within Fidesz and its voters, said Tamas Matura, an expert on Hungarian-China relations at Corvinus University in Budapest. But unlike Serbia, where opinion polls show strong public support for China, the majority of Hungarians are not strong supporters, he added.

Thanks to his party's tight grip on most Hungarian media, Mr. Orban has managed to silence domestic criticism of China. But he faced a delicate balancing act with his admirers in the United States, including former President Donald J. Trump, who made bashing Beijing a central part of his domestic policy message.

The annual gathering in Budapest of the Conservative Political Action Committee, a Trump-aligned U.S. organization, had to tiptoe around the China issue and focus instead on building out what his country could do. most recent edition last month » declared a coalition of pro-peace and anti-globalization forces.

Mr. Trump sent a video message praising Mr. Orban as a great man working to save Western civilization from communists, Marxists and fascists. He made no mention of China, the world's largest communist country.

Presenting China as an ally in the anti-woke cause, Zoltan Kiszelly of a Hungarian research group funded by Fidesz told Magyar Nemzet on Thursday that Hungary and China shared a commitment to family values, opposition to immigration and support for peace.

Barnabas Heincz contributed reporting from Budapest.